How To Write A Successful Charity Bid
15th July 2025
Hoping to write a successful charity bid? Whether it’s your first time writing a fundraising application, or you’re an experienced fundraiser tackling a particularly difficult grant application form, this guide is here to help.
This guide is written by an anonymous freelance fundraiser who has supported a number of London-based charities with writing successful funding applications. Don’t forget to check out the latest funding opportunities on our site too!
How To Write A Successful Charity Bid: 8 Steps
Here’s an easy step-by-step guide to writing a fundraising bid on behalf of a charity. This guide can also be used by social enterprises and community interest companies (CICs), although some areas only apply to registered charities.
1. Research The Funder
Before starting on any application, it’s important to familiarise yourself with the funder. Many funders have specific areas of interest – for example, giving mental health support, or alleviating poverty – so it’s important that your organisation and activities align with this.
You should also research the background of the organisation, so you can understand where their funds are derived from. Charitable trusts often have set grant-making criteria, while Livery Companies may prefer organisations linked to their members’ vocations.
2. Read The Eligibility Requirements
Next, check if your organisation is eligible. There is nothing worse than preparing a fundraising bid to later find that the funder does not accept applications from a specific area or legal structure. Key eligibility requirements to check:
- Organisational structure (charity, CIC, company, etc.)
- Age of organisation (some funders require a few years’ operation)
- Location of activity (make sure yours aligns with the funder’s)
- Revenue (some bids are ring-fenced by an organisation’s revenue)
- Funding use (some funders will not fund core costs or capital projects)
You may wish to create a ‘cheat sheet’ with pre-prepared answers to these questions, so that you can quickly disregard any funding bids that are not suited to your organisation.
In addition to ensuring your organisation is eligible, it’s important to note the funder’s preferences for applications. Some are open to ongoing applications, others prefer specific applications to be made to outlined programmes. Unfortunately is becoming rarer and rarer to receive funding from a simple donor letter.
3. Match The Funder’s Priorities With Your Organisation’s Purpose
To write a successful fundraising bid, you must outline your organisation’s purpose and explain how it matches the funder’s priorities. Funders want to ensure that their funds are going towards activities that help them to achieve their goal, so being able to demonstrate this is key.
There are a few ways you can do this:
- Identify your organisation’s overall mission
- Highlight an existing project that matches their priorities
- Show how you can scale up an existing project with the funder’s support
- Create a new project that combines your purpose with the funder’s priorities
Successful bids rely on making a good match with the funder, and ensuring their priorities are well met. If you are struggling to make a match, it is unlikely you will be successful in your bid. I recommend looking for a more fitting funding opportunity in this case.
4. Connect With The Funder
Now that you are familiar with the funder, and have a funding bid in mind, it’s time to connect with them. This could be through a speculative email, introducing your organisation, and highlighting your plan to submit a bid soon. It may even be as straightforward as connecting on social media.
You could also plan on attending an event that is relevant to their grant-making. Some larger funders host online webinars to further explain their funding priorities, where you can ask questions and passively introduce yourself.
5. Start Your Charity Bid In The Correct Format
If you have completed the above steps, you are now in a favourable position to start writing a (hopefully) successful charity bid.
Nowadays, most funders provide a downloadable form or online portal to submit your bids to. This enables them to control not only the questions asked, but also the length of applications.
For funders that do not provide forms or portals, I recommend submitting a letter addressed to the person overseeing the fund or trust, alongside a document with further details on the activities you are requesting funding for. Be sure to use letter-headed paper for both of these.
Alongside the bid itself, also make a note of any other requirements. Most funders ask for one or more of the following documents:
- Annual Report
- Audited Accounts and/or Management Accounts
- Project Budget
- Bank Statement
For larger funding applications, you will likely need to submit an Expression Of Interest (EOI) first. This is similar to a bid, but usually requires less detail, as that will be asked for later on if successful.
6. Structure Your Bid Across Five Key Stages
Now it’s time to put the meat on the bones of the bid. We’ve discussed the niceties and format; now it’s time to write a successful bid.
I usually write my bids with a similar structure, whether they’re in a form or a letter format. Here are the five key stages I recommend following:
- Introduce your organisation
- Highlight your impact, and one or two past achievements that are relevant
- Pose the current problem – high demand, under-served community, etc.
- Add the funder’s priorities and funding amount into the mix
- Highlight the best possible outcomes their support could create
7. Make Your Bid Engaging
Let’s be honest, most funding bids are going to contain very similar requests. One way you can get your bid to stand out is to make your bid engaging.
First, I recommend matching your tone of voice with the funder’s, i.e. a modern funder may prefer a friendly, down-to-earth bid, while a traditional livery company may prefer a formal, urgent request.
Next, use accurate data. This is especially important when demonstrating your beneficiaries’ need, and how the bid amount will benefit them further. Where possible, use primary data that your organisation has gathered themselves. Highlighting how busy your phone lines are is much more compelling than a national statistic.
It is especially important to explain why your bid is a priority. If you can, highlight its urgency – for example, a recent change in legislation. Give a clear case study that the funder can relate to: preventing an elderly person from losing their home is much more compelling than support for a debt advice service.
And finally, keep it succinct. Too much waffle will lose the funder’s concentration and likely the entire bid.
8. Provide Accurate Information Alongside Your Bid
Finally, be sure to provide all requested documents, and ensure that your information is accurate. An accurate project budget and timeline can make or break your application, especially if these are interrogated later on.
By showing you can tick all the requested boxes on your application, you reassure the funder that your organisation is performing in the same manner, and that you can provide a positive experience if they do decide to provide you with that all-important grant.
Useful Tools To Write A Successful Charity Bid
If you would like further support in writing a successful charity bid, I recommend bookmarking the following websites:
Charity Commission Website: Look up funders and past funding activities here
Charity Excellence’s Fund Bid Templates: Useful question-and-answer style templates for bid writing
Charity Digital’s Guide To Writing A Funding Bid: Great guide with extra ideas on reporting and budgeting
London Plus’ Charity Data & Research: Free datasets from the London charity sector
LOTI’s Guidance On Generative AI: Find out how AI can help (and harm) the charity sector
