Voluntary and community groups rely on grant funding to help them provide services that make a difference to communities and people's lives.

You don't need to be registered as a charity to apply for funding, but you must be a not-for-profit organisation.  

Applying for a grant

Before you apply for a grant it's important that you've done some business planning.

Whatever the size of your organisation you'll need to identify the funding you need and what you need it for. You might need the money to sustain your organisation, grow and develop it, or to run a specific project.

You'll need to be able to demonstrate to funding bodies how the money will help your organisation to develop. You'll also need to show how you'll sustain your business once the grant runs out. This is often called an 'exit strategy'.

Key stages in applying for funding

• Preparation: drawing up your strategy.
  

• Application: there's more to this than filling in a form. Find out as much as you can about the funding body. Some of the main grant-giving organisations are listed below. Look at the kind of projects they've funded recently.
  

• Receipt: once you've sent your application you'll usually get a letter telling you what the funding body expects in return for the grant. It'll include any conditions attached to the grant.
  

• Project delivery: most funders will want to monitor how you spend the grant. Make sure you factor spend monitoring into your project so you can provide the information they need. We can help you do this. 

Guidance from South Yorkshire Funding Advice Bureau

The South Yorkshire Funding Advice Bureau information sheets below can guide you through the process of applying for funding:

• Writing a business plan

• Developing a fundraising strategy

• Fundraising for projects

• Funding for community buildings

• Making a good application

• Monitoring and evaluation for small groups

• Dealing with a fundraising crisis

Getting support and advice

There are over 8,000 grant-giving bodies in the UK and working out which funding to apply for can seem like a daunting process.

We can help your voluntary or community group find and apply for grants or other funding, as well as giving you advice on setting up your project monitoring. Fill in our online form to get in touch us.

Barnsley CVS also provide support to voluntary and community groups on funding, capacity building and recruiting volunteers, as well as a range of other matters.

Grant giving organisations

These organisations provide support and grants to voluntary and community groups. Visit Funding Central to search for other funders.