Foundations & trusts · See it as an applicant does
The right applicant never applied. Your criteria were in a PDF.
Your trustees know what they want to fund. But applicants and partners screen funders online, often by asking an assistant who funds their work, and the answer either leaves you out or describes priorities you have since dropped. This playbook shows how to be found by the right organisations, and screened out by the wrong ones.
The short versionFoundations and trusts usually receive poorly matched applications because their criteria sit in PDFs that assistants misread or miss, past grants and typical amounts aren't published, and eligibility questions go unanswered. Clear criteria pages, open grants data and a simple eligibility route fix that.
Why these three“For rural youth work, Larger national foundation lists its criteria, typical grant sizes and past awards…”
Leak 1Criteria in a PDFAssistants quote old priorities, or miss you entirely.
Leak 2No grants dataApplicants can't see what you fund or typical amounts.
Leak 3Unanswered checks“Are we eligible?” emails wait over a week.
Start here
Tick anything that sounds like your week.
Eight things foundations and trusts commonly describe. Select the ones that apply and we'll show what usually causes them, in the order we'd tackle it. Nothing is submitted.
Tick what applies3 of 8 selected
Why a well-run foundation still gets the wrong applicants
Applicants screen you first. Online, in minutes.
Small charities have little time to waste on applications. Before applying, they search or ask an assistant which funders support their kind of work, then check criteria, grant sizes and past awards. If your guidance is a PDF from the last strategy, they either misread it and apply anyway, or never find you. Your officers then spend weeks declining applications that a clear page would have prevented, while the best-fit organisations apply elsewhere.
01
The funder search you're missing from
Funders for rural youth work?
1Larger national foundationNamed first · criteria
2Corporate giving fundNamed · grant sizes
–Your foundationOld prioritiesCriteria in PDF
Why don't the right organisations find our foundation?
Applicants ask who funds their kind of work in their region. Assistants answer from what they can read: current criteria pages, past grants and directory listings. Criteria in a PDF, or old guidance still online, means you're left out of the answer or described with priorities you no longer hold.
02
The grant-size question nobody answers
how much do small foundations give
Your page“Grants of varying sizes.”Tab closed
Answered pageTypical grant range · past awards · what we don't fundQuoted by AI
Should a foundation publish its past grants and typical amounts?
Applicants want to know how much to ask for and what you've funded before. Without it they guess, often wrongly. A list of past awards with purpose and amount, and a plain statement of typical size and length, answers the money question and improves the match of what arrives.
03
The eligibility email that waited
Are we eligible if we're not yet a registered charity?Email · Mon 10:05 am
Please read our guidelines before applying.8 days later
Thanks, we applied to a funder who answered that.Same day
Why do applicants give up before applying to our foundation?
Most pre-application questions are the same few: are we eligible, can we apply again, do you fund core costs. Emailed answers a week later leave applicants guessing and the officer's inbox full. An online eligibility check and published answers handle most of them, and route the rest to a named person.
What we'd do about it
Five moves, in the order that pays.
Fix the leaks first, then grow. Scaling a funnel that loses enquiries just spends more to lose more.
Move
W1W2W3W4W5W6W7W8W9W10W11W12M3+
01Publish criteria as pagesWho you fund and don't, where, typical size and length, what a strong application includes. Old guidance archived and clearly marked, so it stops being quoted.Content Marketing
Weeks 1–4
02Add the eligibility checkA short online check before the form, published answers to common questions, rounds and deadlines on the page, and an alert sign-up for new rounds.Web Development
Weeks 2–6
03Open the grants dataA searchable list of past awards with recipient, purpose and amount, plus short pages on what you've learnt. Nothing published that the trustees haven't approved.Content Marketing
Weeks 3–7
04Correct the AI recordTrack how assistants describe your priorities and who they name for the work you fund, then fix the sources: your pages, directory listings and partner mentions.AI Search Optimisation
Weeks 4–10
05Then reach the right applicantsOutreach to the regions and kinds of organisation you want more applications from, measured by match quality, not volume. Only once criteria and checks work.Analytics & Attribution
Month 3 onward
Social presence · where applicants check you
Applicants checked your LinkedIn to see what you fund now.
Applicants and partners check your posts to see what you fund today. Six things decide whether the right organisations apply and the wrong ones screen themselves out.
9:41●●● 5G
yourfoundation
YFYour FoundationGrant-making trust
Funding rural youth workCriteria & past grants on our site ↓Check eligibility first ↓
ApplyMessageCall
CriteriaGrantsDeadlinesFAQs
Round opens: key datesWho we fund nowGrantee storyWhat we don't fundEligibility in briefTrustee view · by RuthWhere we've fundedWebinar for applicantsWhat we learned
LinkedInFunding rounds, grantee stories and priorities, dated.Trust
FacebookRounds shared into community networks small groups read.Discover
InstagramGrantee work, shared with consent, to show priorities.Trust
YouTubeRecorded applicant webinars that answer common questions.Ask
A week that books, not just posts
Social Media Marketing Included in Zero to Hero (2 platforms) and Own The Answer (4 platforms).
MONWho we fund nowOne priority, with an example.
WEDGrantee storyThe work in their words, with consent.
THUEligibility tipOne common question, answered.
FRIRound reminderDates and how to check eligibility.
DAILYRepliesEligibility questions, with the right link.
What we'd watch
Your dashboard, minus the vanity metrics.
Six numbers that show whether the work is turning into eligible applications — each pulled from a system you already own. The audit fills in your baseline; every sprint after shows the trend.
Applications · per roundYour dashboard after the free audit
Applications within criteriaGrants management system
Baseline—
Funder answers you're inAI visibility tracking
Baseline—
Eligibility checks completedWebsite analytics
Baseline—
Time to answer enquiriesShared inbox
Baseline—
Grants data page visitsWebsite analytics
Baseline—
Good-fit applicants by sourceApplication form
Baseline—
Your numbers, not ours
What is the slow reply actually costing you?
Three inputs only you know. We don't know your business yet — so nothing here is a benchmark, just your own arithmetic.
Runs in your browser. Nothing is stored or sent.
What you may be losing
$1,948a month in applicants who book somewhere else — worked out from your three numbers above.
6 × 4.33 weeks× 1 in 2× $150
The fix is a check before the form, not more officers. Eligibility check and published answers — weeks 2 to 6 of the plan.
Free with any monthly plan from $499. Domain, hosting and paid tools are bought by you and stay in your name; shops and booking systems are quoted separately. The 48-hour clock starts once your plan is active and the launch checklist is done.
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Questions foundations and trusts ask
Straight answers, no sales script.
Straight answers. If yours isn't here, a 30-minute call is the fastest route — no pitch, no deck.
We don't want more applications. Why market at all?
The goal is better-matched applications, not more. Clear criteria, exclusions and past grants online usually reduce the ones you'd decline and help the organisations you'd most like to fund find you.
Should we publish grant amounts?
Most applicants benefit from seeing typical amounts and past awards. If some grants are sensitive, publish ranges and purposes rather than every detail. Trustees approve what goes live.
Why do assistants describe our old priorities?
Because old guidance, PDFs and directory entries are still online. Current criteria pages, updated listings and clearly archived old guidance give them a better source. We can't control their answers, but we can fix what they read.
We're a small family trust with no staff. Does this apply?
In a lighter form. One clear page of criteria and exclusions, a short eligibility check and an inbox with set reply times can save trustees a great deal of correspondence.
What about impact claims for the work we fund?
We describe what you funded and what grantees reported, with sources. We don't turn grantee results into claims for the foundation that the evidence doesn't support.
How long before we notice a difference?
Eligibility checks and criteria pages can change the next round. How assistants describe you usually updates over a few months. We don't guarantee mentions or application numbers.
Which social platforms matter most for a foundation or trust?
LinkedIn first, because applicants, partners and other funders check it for current priorities. Facebook reaches smaller community groups who might otherwise never hear of a round. Post what you fund now, with dated round announcements, and say plainly what you don't fund; fewer, better-matched applications save everyone time.
Do we get a free website for our foundation?
Yes. Every monthly plan includes a free 5-page website for your foundation — fast, AI-readable and yours to keep. It goes live within 48 hours once your plan is active and the launch checklist is done. Your domain, hosting and any paid tools sit outside the offer and stay in your name; online shops and booking systems are quoted separately. What's included
Free · one business day
Tell us about your foundation. Get a plan back.
A strategist reads your brief and replies within one business day with what we'd fix first for your foundation, a timeline and the real cost.
Reply in 1 business dayFrom a strategist, not a bot
Ask who funds your priorities and see if you're named.
We'll check how assistants describe your criteria, whether applicants can find grant sizes and past awards, and how fast an eligibility question gets answered, then send you what we found.
Social presence · where applicants check you
Applicants checked your LinkedIn to see what you fund now.
Applicants and partners check your posts to see what you fund today. Six things decide whether the right organisations apply and the wrong ones screen themselves out.
yourfoundation
Is your profile ready to sell?
Tap what's already true.
Where your applicants look
A week that books, not just posts
Social Media Marketing Included in Zero to Hero (2 platforms) and Own The Answer (4 platforms).