There are thousands of grant making trusts, foundation or funders out there that your project could apply to by making the most use of the resources available at Voluntary and Community Action. Our Funding Adviser could guide you through these resources and help you to identify the right funder for your project.

We have a number of databases:

GRANTfinder provides accurate and comprehensive information on the full range of grants, subsidies, loans and other incentives available to voluntary organisations and community groups in the UK.

Trustfunding details all trusts included within the Directory of Social Change and Charities Aid Foundation publications and is updated regularly throughout the year. It includes information on over 4,200 grant-making trusts with a total of over £3.1 billion a year.

An example of a search by Trustfunding for 'sports for people with disability’ resulted in a total of 18 new trusts, and a  search for ‘young people and performing arts’ resulted in a total of 22 new trusts.

We also have a number of directories and books in our resource library, to mention a few:

• Directory of grant making trusts
• A guide to Major trusts, volume 1 and 2
• A guide to local trusts
• Fundraising from grant making Trusts and Foundations
• Fundraising for Churches
• Tried and Tested Ideas for Local Fundraising Events
• Fundraising Strategy
• The Fundraisers Guide to the Law
• Fundraising from Grant-making Trusts and Foundations
• Finding Company Sponsors for Good Causes
• The Complete Fundraising Handbook
• Youth (Funding Guide)
• Avoiding the Wastepaper Basket: A Practical Guide for Applying to Grant-making Trusts
• The Guide to UK Company Giving 2005
• A guide to Local Trusts in the South of England (2006/07)
• The Educational Grants Directory (2004-2005)

• Codes of Fundraising Practice 06
  (this Code of Practice is available on CD - we have spare copies in our office - contact our Information Officer for more info).

To browse through the directories or have a go at the databases to identifying the right funder for you group please contact our Funding Adviser on 01525 850559 or by email.

National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) - Future Focus

NCVO has produce a series of guides to help help organisations to be more sustainable and more effective. Each booklet in the Future Focus series takes a complex issue and breaks it down into easily accessible chunks of information. It also has tips and suggestions that organisations can build into their planning.

• Future Focus 1: What will our funding be like in five years’ time?
• Future Focus 2: What will our volunteers be like in five years’ time?
• Future Focus 3: How will we use new technologies in five years' time?
• Future Focus 4: How is local democracy changing?
• Future Focus 5: How are social attitudes changing? 
• Future Focus 6: What will the UK population be like in five years' time?
• Future Focus 7: What will campaigning be like in five years' time?
• Future Focus 8: What will membership be like in five years' time?