Building relationships with invitation-only trusts

Ever found a funder that seems like the perfect fit, only to learn they don’t accept unsolicited applications?

When you’ve exhausted all the “obvious” funding avenues, engaging some key invitation-only funders can feel like a tantalising way of broadening your funding base. But how can you get on their radar, especially if they don’t even welcome initial enquiries?

Getting invitation-only funders to take notice isn’t quick or easy, but it is possible. Over the years I’ve seen charities do this brilliantly, and helped organisations to open doors that they previously thought were bolted firmly shut.

In this session I’ll share some tips on how you can do it too – and show that you don’t need to be a household name charity, with a big address book of contacts, to make it happen.

Key learnings from this session:

• Find ways in via your existing network that you previously overlooked
• Get some online basics right so you’re more visible and appealling to funders
• Identify some longer-term, more creative ways of getting your organisation noticed