Six unexpected free tools in our trusts fundraising toolbox

This blog is a joint effort by Rachel Cross and Mike Zywina, drawing on their combined 15 years' trusts fundraising experience.

There are certain things we’d recommend that every trusts fundraiser has in place to boost their chances of success.

Some are internally generated: a case for support, carefully considered budgets, frameworks for measuring outcomes, and so on. Some are external tools: funding databases, a working printer, etc.

But if a neat spreadsheet, the Charity Commission website, and a friendly proofreading colleague are your bread, butter and milk essentials – there are also some unexpected items in our trusts & foundations bagging area that might surprise you.

In our years of experience, these can sometimes bag you a significant advantage in your prospect research and bid writing. Consider them your slightly more refined condiments that, on their own, don’t form the basis of a successful trusts fundraising programme, but can add extra spice to your approach.

​In an extremely competitive funding environment where every detail matters, these little hacks might well be the difference between walking away with that funding partnership, or leaving with nothing.

And, best of all, they're completely free (or at least have a free option)!

Unexpected item in the bagging area? Here are our top six...

1. Google Street View (Rachel)

You’ve found a funder that appears to be well-aligned. It requests applications in writing, so you look for the address. It doesn’t appear to be a law firm or accountant at first glance, but it’s a mysterious P.O. Box,  peculiarly named house, or simply ‘Unit 146’… 

How can you tell whether your application is going to land in the hands of a trustee, in a huge pile on a solicitor’s desk, or be left for weeks in a mailbox that may or may not be watertight?

While a search engine can sometimes answer your question, often using Street View to examine the surroundings is a great extra level of digging. 

If you see a residential suburb, or detached cottage in the sticks, you can be fairly certain this is where a trustee or secretary resides. This provides at least some reassurance that your application will land directly in the hands of a relevant decision-maker.

An office block with tinted windows in a commercial district? Most likely a professional gatekeeper – you might want to reconsider whether posting something without prior communication is really worth it.

​Picking a random funder address, I’ve immediately been able to identify that this does, in fact, belong to a Post Office – and is therefore likely to either be forwarded to another address, or routinely collected by a secretary:

In this case, an initial phone call might give you an opportunity to ask whether the address provided is really the best one to use. You might want to consider using signed-for delivery, especially for larger bids, or decide to first send an expression of interest before taking the plunge with a full application.

It's a small detail, but could make the difference. Trusts fundraising really is like being a detective sometimes. 

2. Visualping (Mike)

​“We are currently closed to new applications. Please check back here soon for details of our re-opening.”

Have you ever read a statement like this and thought, ‘how soon is soon?!'

Is it a ‘dinner will be ready soon’, or a Labour Government 'things will get better soon'? They mean VERY different things, apparently.

In the current landscape, we're all waiting on tenterhooks for a favourite funder to reopen their programme or finally unveil big strategic changes. Manually checking websites takes time, and it's easy to miss a big announcement.

Enter Visualping: a tool that enables you to monitor specific webpages.

Just pop in the relevant URL and Visualping will notify you when the webpage is updated, so you can see what has changed. A great way to get yourself to the front of the queue when a funder wakes from their slumbers.

3. A fountain pen (Rachel)

Do they even still make these things?! 

Indeed, they do, and not everything in my toolbox requires an internet connection. 

In a digitalised age – especially as we're engulfed by AI – preserving human touches is more important than ever.

Grantmaking trusts seem to have a tendency to move at a snail’s pace when it comes to modernisation. Many funders still only accept applications in writing. Yes, I mean snail mail. And, yes, the pun is intentional.

Whilst inconvenient, this method does allow you to retain some humanity – if you’ll let it. 

Instead of inserting your e-signature before printing, sign your application by hand. Instead of printing the address, get out your nicest pen and write it by hand.

It may take you a few extra minutes, but adding this personal touch and showing that extra level of care may well be the reason a funder picks up your application from the pile.

(Disclaimer: ok, this tool technically isn't free. But you probably have a nice pen lying around somewhere. This blog does not condone or endorse the shoplifting of pens, fountain or otherwise.)

4. Hemingway (Mike)

We've all been guilty of writing that knockout sentence that we're convinced is going to conquer a funder's heart and mind, only to read it back the next day and realise it's an impenetrable word salad.

The truth is, it's all too easy to get bogged down in our writing, and too close to our work.

One of our top application writing tips is to keep the reader’s interest. Your application will very likely be one of many reviewed that day. The stakes are high if you want them to read from start to finish, and not get bored half way through. And keeping your language balanced, clear and interesting is key to this.

This is why I love ​Hemingway, an online tool that reviews your writing and suggests way to make it bolder and clearer. Just copy/paste written text into the box and it will flag sentences that are hard to read, and words that have a simpler alternative.

​This isn’t a perfect tool, because of course it doesn't know the recipient or the context in which you’re writing. However it’s still a great starting point for reviewing the first draft of a funding application or end of grant report.

Here's an example of what Hemingway will tell you, based on this section of writing. The irony of my first sentence being flagged red is too good to change.

5. A thesaurus (Rachel)

I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve reviewed a funding application, only to end up with my head in my hands after reading the word ‘important’ four times in two sentences. 

Other routine offenders: vital, support, difference, community, help, valuable, improve, affect, impact…

All very topical words. All very clear and easy-to-understand. But all very quickly become redundant when used frequently in quick succession. 

I know how difficult I find trying to organically come up with alternative words that mean the same thing (synonyms). An online thesaurus has often been my lifeline to avoid giving the funder cognitive indigestion. 

‘Important’ soon becomes key, major, significant, noteworthy, prominent, influential, central, leading…depending on the context of my sentence.

There’s a crucial caveat, though. Don’t be tempted to use overly complex words to impress. Straightforward language that gets to the heart of your point will always be better received by a funder who’s grimacing at the number of applications still left on their desk for review before 5pm.

6. Read aloud software (Mike)

The two tools immediately above can help you to refine your writing. But when it comes to basic proof reading – catching and correcting silly typos – we often rely on our brains and eyes.

But these are fallible, especially when we're tired and re-reading our application for the fifth time, half an hour before the deadline. It's too easy to end up reading what we think we've written, not what we actually put down.

​(Fun fact: my cat once walked across my keyboard while I was proof reading an application before sending it to a charity client, leading to a very confused conversation about the strange series of characters that appeared midway through my otherwise rousing grant request.)

Read aloud software is great for spotting the mistakes that my eyes miss. When a voice reads your writing out loud, there's no hiding place.

Microsoft Word and Google Docs have built-in read aloud tools. Or check out an online tool like NaturalReader, where you can choose from a wide range of different voices, accents and genders. Just make sure you check the privacy policy of any online tool that you use, especially if you're inputting sensitive information.

Got any unexpectedly useful tools in your own trusts fundraising toolbox? Let us know in the comments ⬇️