Finding money that actually fits you
A plain-English intro to grants: how to think about eligibility and fit, and stop wasting time.
Most people approach funding the wrong way round. They find an open grant, get excited, and pour hours into an application for money that was never going to come to an organisation like theirs. Let's fix that.
Start with fit, not the deadline
The best-fit funder is one that already wants what you're building. Your job isn't to convince a funder to care about something new. It's to find the ones whose priorities already match your mission, your stage, and your structure.
That single shift, from "who's giving money away" to "who actually fits me", saves more wasted hours than anything else.
Check eligibility before you write a word
Before you spend 40 hours on an application, spend two minutes checking whether you're even eligible. Eligibility usually comes down to a few things:
- Who you are — your organisation type (CIC, charity, CIO) and how long you've been going
- What you do — your sector and the kind of work the funder backs
- Where you work — geography, which a lot of funders restrict tightly
- What the money is for — project costs, core costs, capital, or unrestricted
If you don't clear those basics, no amount of beautiful writing will save the application.
Don't chase the wrong type of money
Grants are only one route. Depending on your stage there may be contracts, social investment, accelerators, or partnerships that fit you better. If your model is proven and growing, a stack of small project grants might be holding you back rather than helping.
Use a tool to cut the noise
This is exactly what our free CIC Toolkit is for. The eligibility checker filters out the opportunities you can't win, so you only spend time on the ones you can. Start there: tools.inclusifund.co.uk.
Funding works best with a strategy, not a scroll. Pick the few that genuinely fit, and go deep on those.
— Reece Dunn