Tips to help you cover the basics of funding applications
Tips to help you know what write in a funding application.
Although Mutual Aids are largely voluntary there are many things that funding can be useful for such as printing, premises and IT. Groups may wish to start a small project that requires resources or wish to cover their volunteer travel expenses.
Top tips & quick links
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As a mutual aid group, it can be difficult to find and apply for grants, as the funds available change all the time and vary in their criteria.
Many grant funders require applicants to have a constitution or be incorporated (a registered charity, company or similar). If you’re not ready to consider this however here are a few links to get you started:
For more information on this and further help with fundraising have a look through the rest of our resources on this topic.
“We had success with our local Rotary club and community lottery – why not try those?”
“Go for smaller amounts as informal groups won’t get the larger pots”
“At Hounslow Council we have our small grants programme. It’s light touch. We just ask for evidence of residents coming together - so six residents need to sign”.
In Islington the Cripplegate Foundation funded a number of mutual aids through their micro grants. They distributed the money via established organisations who acted as fundholders for the informal groups.
Cripplegate also relaxed requirements for monitoring: “We asked for short emails on numbers, what you did with the grant, small case studies etc. Interestingly, we got more impact information from that than most of our bigger grants”.
Tips to help you know what write in a funding application.
The first port of call for funding should always be your members, supporters and local community.
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