Finding suitable trusts and foundations to support your work in the sport for good sector can present considerable challenges, regardless of organisational size or experience. Thousands of trusts and foundations invite funding proposals for a range of charitable causes—whether locally, regionally, nationally, or internationally.

Each funder has its own set of objectives and priorities that guide how they select the organisations they wish to support. Some are broad in scope, inviting applications from any organisations deemed to have charitable purposes. Others operate with stricter guiding principles relating to thematic focus, geographical boundaries, or specific beneficiary groups.

In an increasingly competitive environment, where many funders are scaling back or suspending grant-making altogether, navigating this landscape can feel overwhelming. As we highlighted in our "Fundraising Practice and Performance in Sport for Good: 2025 Benchmark Report," nearly half (46%) of organisations failed to meet their fundraising targets, with a significant number citing challenges in securing grants from trusts and foundations as a key barrier.

This blog provides a structured approach to identifying funders that align with your mission, helping you focus your efforts, reduce wasted time, and improve your likelihood of success—a critical component of fundraising readiness that we've previously explored.

Understanding your organisation

Before beginning the search for funding opportunities, it's essential to collate key information about your organisation. Having this information readily available allows you to filter through funding opportunities efficiently, saving you time in the long run and helping to streamline the prospecting and application processes.

Funders commonly request the following details:

• Governance structure

• Reserves policy

• Income and expenditure (most recent financial year)

• Number of paid staff

• Number of trustees

• Date of establishment

• Mission, vision, and values

• Impact data (e.g. number of people supported in the past year)

We recommend gathering these details in an online folder or document, which you can refer to when checking your eligibility criteria for a funder. This speeds up the entire prospecting process and reduces the chance of writing an application for a funder that you aren't eligible to apply for.

Related to this, pay close attention to small caveats in funder criteria that can easily go unnoticed. For instance, some funders request that organisations that have undergone a governance structure change (e.g., from CIC to CIO) have at least 12 months' accounts. Small details like these can be overlooked, leaving the bid writer frustrated upon realising that, having written a strong application, they are not eligible to apply. Although the application can be repurposed for another funder, it's far from an ideal situation. As such, it can save time in the long run to spend an extra bit of time going through the small print of a funder's FAQs rather than skimming through or focusing on the standout criteria.

Clarifyng your Funding Priorities

Clearly defined funding priorities are invaluable during the prospecting process. Begin by highlighting the areas of your work that:

• Are proven to be effective and impactful—identify projects and programmes that you deliver that demonstrate clear impact for beneficiaries.

• Are currently under-resourced—which areas rely on funding and could not continue without sustained support?

• Could expand or improve with additional funding—are you experiencing greater demand than you are currently able to meet?

Identifying these areas can help develop a strong case for support in your applications. For example, an organisation that runs weekly, after-school martial arts classes for girls aged 8-12 may have received feedback from participants that they would benefit from a further class per week to improve skills, mental wellbeing, and social connectivity. Without additional funding, the organisation would be unable to meet this need. However, financial support via a trusts and foundations route may enable the organisation to do so.

This approach aligns with what we discussed in our "Storytelling and Crafting a Compelling Case for Support" blog, where we emphasised the importance of clarity in your narrative, focusing on three core elements: who you help, how you help, and the lasting impact of your work.

Define what size of funding you want to pursue

Although this is not a universal or 'one-size-fits-all' experience, it is often the case that the more money you go for, the more competitive it is and the more difficult it may be to secure funding. Would you rather put your eggs in more baskets by applying to smaller funding pots with less complicated or demanding application forms, or would you prefer to spend more time finetuning a compelling, in-depth proposal for a larger amount of money?

While larger grants may seem appealing, they often entail strong competition and arduous and complicated application processes. In contrast, smaller grants may be less complex and can pave the way to larger opportunities in the future. When grant funding is a relatively new pursuit, it might be strategic to target smaller funding pots, enabling you to build your grant management portfolio. Over time, this will demonstrate your ability to manage and invest funders' money with strong social value, therefore building your credibility with potential funders.

Our annual State of the Sector research consistently shows that organisations who take a strategic approach to fundraising—including carefully assessing which funding opportunities to pursue—are significantly more likely to meet their annual income targets. This strategic approach is an essential component of fundraising readiness, which we've identified as the foundation of long-term, sustainable funding models.

Being strategic about the type of funders you pursue

Some funders are themselves very small organisations with an incredibly limited grant-making budget, making them favour organisations they know or those that most closely match their niche criteria. Conversely, others (such as The National Lottery, Comic Relief, and Sport England) can be less selective with the organisations they fund due to greater budgets and broader funding scopes. Unless there is a clear cohesion and alignment between your organisation and one of these smaller funders, we recommend going for larger funders who have more money committed to grant-making, especially in the early days.

Placing ourselves in the shoes of a funder with limited budget for grant-making who receives more applications for funding than they are able to support, they are unlikely to invest in an organisation without either prior experience of grant management or clear alignment with their priorities. Therefore, prioritising funders with a larger capacity to give and who provide guidance and engagement opportunities for new applicants may be a wise approach in the early stages.

As Zenna Hopson of Dallaglio RugbyWorks noted at our recent Sport Fundraising Summit, "It's not about how many people you reach, but how many lives you change." Funders are increasingly focused on genuine impact rather than just numbers, so ensure your approach demonstrates the tangible difference your work makes.

Leverage Existing and Historical Relationships

The first step here is to identify the trusts and foundations currently supporting your organisation or that have provided funding in the past. These organisations have previously put trust in your skillset, team, and social value, and so provide a positive and logical starting point in the prospecting stage. We recommend that you review:

• Their current funding guidelines—to ensure you are still eligible to apply for funding

• Any relevant eligibility timelines—there may be a 12-24 month window between receipt of a grant and being able to reapply, so it is worth identifying if this is the case.

• Whether their funding priorities have shifted—many funders review their priorities in line with national and global objectives.

However, for organisations that are completely new to grant funding, looking into current and previous funders is simply not applicable. Everyone has to start somewhere, and if you're new to the world of trusts and foundations, consider identifying similar organisations based on geography, beneficiaries, and mission and values and research who funds them. Publicly available information on sites like Companies House or Charity Commission can reveal key funders, grant amounts, and the types of projects supported. This insight can provide a valuable springboard to build your own pipeline of prospective funding opportunities.

Utilise Networks and Connections

Explore whether your trustees, board members, or staff have any relationships or connections with funders. Personal introductions can open doors that may otherwise be shut; could you leverage these internal connections to initiate conversations, share impact reports, or invite potential funders to events?

As we discussed in our Building Corporate Partnerships blog, cultivating meaningful connections with partners is essential to long-term, sustainable and mutually beneficial relationships.

It is also worth mentioning that many funders opt for solicited proposals only, and do not accept applications from organisations with whom they have no prior relationship or knowledge of. Pouring into these internal connections—or spending time reaching out to funders to engage them in your work and build up a rapport—may open up funding opportunities in future that would otherwise be unavailable. It is good practice, as it demonstrates your organisation's commitment to the trusts and foundations landscape and finetunes your ability to isolate key impact areas of your work and articulate them effectively.

Authenticity is crucial in building these relationships. As our friends at Skateistan noted, "If that story was strong enough to inspire our cause in the first place, then you can be sure it'll inspire donors to support it." Ensuring your approach is genuine and mission-aligned will resonate with potential funders.

Where to Find Opportunities

There are several platforms and tools available that can support your efforts to identify trusts and foundations:

• Funding newsletters such as our own: On the Ball

• Subscriptions on websites like MyFundingCentral

• Industry-specific platforms like the International Platform on Sport and Development

• Local voluntary sector infrastructure organisations, which often have funding directories

Ultimately, taking care and spending significant time identifying the most suitable funders for your organisation will save resources and frustration in the long run. By pursuing the funding opportunities that align mission, objectives, and values the most, you increase the likelihood of success, which is incredibly important when time and capacity constraints limit fundraising efforts.

In the long run, it is good practice to pull together a 'long list' of potential funders who may be less likely to fund your organisation but are still worth applying to due to some alignment, whether based on thematic, geographical, or beneficiary objectives. However, in the early stages of applying to trusts and foundations, we recommend using the funder identification methodology we've detailed in this blog to find those that resonate with your organisation and apply to these according to submission deadlines.

What's Next?

Ready to take your fundraising to the next level?

1. Assess your organisation's readiness with our free Fundraising Readiness Tool—use it as a baseline to identify strengths and areas for improvement in your approach to trusts and foundations.

2. Download our Fundraising Benchmark Report to understand how your organisation compares with others in the sector and identify opportunities for growth.

Written by Lucy Wilkes