FAQs

Fund Gloucestershire is a charitable organisation with a mission to make funding simpler and easier to access across Gloucestershire.  We can work with funders of all shapes and sizes, individuals and organisations, locally and nationally, to administer online funding programmes to distribute funding to Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) organisations and community groups across the county.   Our online platform has been designed to reduce complexity in applying for grants and to cut down on repetition for applicant organisations.   We will work with funders to standardise question sets, encourage proportionality in grant applications and to share good practice.   We hope that in time, as more funders join the platform, VCSE organisations and community groups will be able to spend less time finding funding and completing bespoke application forms and more time doing what they do best – delivering amazing impact across our county.

Our services are intended to benefit the VCSE (Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise) sector in Gloucestershire, by simplifying the funding process for applicant organisations applying for grants, saving applicant organisations time and effort and enabling them to focus on delivering impact.   Our Fund Administration Services and Fund Stewardship service lift the administrative burden from funders who place their funds on our platform, enabling them to focus on the purpose of their funding and decision-making about who gets the funds so that their funds can better reach communities in Gloucestershire.

No.  Fund Gloucestershire is not a funder. We offer an administrative and financial service to both the VCSE and to funders. We host and administer grants on behalf of all kinds of funders to help funding reach communities in Gloucestershire more easily.

Fund Gloucestershire received three grants to fund early set-up and platform development costs. These came from Gloucestershire NHS Integrated Care Board in FY 2024/25 and the Julia Rausing Trust and Thirty Percy in FY 2025/26. We are grateful to these organisations for believing in our vision for simplifying funding flows for the VCSE across Gloucestershire and for providing the seed funding to enable us to set up and develop our services and platform. As we develop our services, we aim to move towards becoming a self-sustaining organisation.

No. Fund Gloucestershire is a new service with a new objective and a new approach. Our core service is delivered through an online platform and we are committed to enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of the VCSE (Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise) sector in Gloucestershire by making it easy for funders to give funding and for the VCSE to apply for funds. 

The previous service provided by Gloucestershire Funders was not platform-based but involved making a common expression of interest which was viewed by a small number of funders, some of whom were prepared to use that as a means of accessing their funds, if the application related to their funding priorities.

Current funding opportunities will be advertised on Fund Gloucestershire social media – LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram - on our website and through our platform.   Each fund will include clear information about its purpose, eligibility criteria, available funding, application process and deadline so that VCSE organisations and community groups can make an informed decision about which funds to apply for.

Yes, but you only need to do this once. Guidance on creating an account with Fund Gloucestershire can be found on the For Applicants page on our website. It is a simple process that should take an organisation about 10 minutes.  Once registered with Fund Gloucestershire, you will be able to log into the platform using the username and password you created when you set up an account. Organisations can update their organisational information or key documents at any time by logging into the platform.

You can view available funds without having to create an account as they are visible on the For Applicants-Open Funds page of our website.

Eligibility will vary from fund to fund.  Each funding opportunity will clearly set out who can apply, what the funding can be used for, and any specific eligibility criteria.  Eligibility criteria will be available on the For Applicants-Open Funds page of our website as well as on the platform Funding Opportunities page.

Yes. You can apply for as many funds as you like, provided that you meet the eligibility criteria for the fund. Over time, you will be able to track which funds you have applied for, what their status is, and how much funding you have received via your account on the Fund Gloucestershire platform.

If one funder has two funds open at the same time, the eligibility criteria will make it clear whether you can apply at the same time for both their funds.

No. Once your organisation has created a profile on the Fund Gloucestershire platform, core organisational information (such as your founding document, financial accounts, insurance and safeguarding policies) will be stored so that it is ready to use for future applications. Fund Gloucestershire will notify applicant organisations by email when their core documents are approaching their expiry date so that new versions can be uploaded. You will still need to provide any information that is specific to the fund you are applying for. This will be made clear in the description of funding opportunities on the platform.

Funding decisions remain with the funder. The funder’s method of decision-making is up to them – for example, they may choose to review the applications online, or download them to review in a decision-making panel. Fund Gloucestershire provides administrative support to the application assessment process, but we do not make any funding decisions on behalf of the funder. Likewise, Fund Gloucestershire does not get in the way of the relationship between a funder and an applicant organisation.  These direct relationships are important, and will remain with the funder and applicant organisation throughout the duration of the process of applying, and the management of a grant if an application is successful. 

Over time we hope that we can attract a wide range of funders who want to fund in Gloucestershire, including national Charitable Trusts and Foundations which smaller not-for-profits may find it hard to find and to write applications for.  We are also hoping that local government and the NHS will choose to use the services of the platform, which will mean that their funding streams available to all the not-for-profit sector, both big and small, are easily visible.

Having a common format for applications will also mean that the process of applying becomes very familiar, even to applicants with no prior experience of writing funding applications.

It will naturally take time to encourage more funders to use Fund Gloucestershire and for the benefits of a simpler, more efficient funding system to be fully realised. As the platform grows, we hope it will help attract and unlock more funding for Gloucestershire, but we recognise that this will be a gradual process.

Funders using our platform can choose whether to use AI to support parts of the grant administration process; specifically to run due diligence checks and application scoring.   The AI model that we use only assesses information that applicant organisations have provided, or draws on information held by the Charity Commission or Companies House.   AI is used to improve efficiency and reduce administrative workload, not to replace human judgement.    We will make clear in our “How the funder makes decisions” section of our platform how AI is being used for each fund.   You can read more about how we use AI and automation on the About Us page of our website.

No. AI does not have any decision-making power on the Fund Gloucestershire platform. It can be used to assess information against agreed fund criteria set by a funder, and to run specific checks on an organisation’s due diligence. These checks are optional and are not applied to all funds. The use of the AI facility is at the discretion and choice of each funder. We will make clear in our “How the funder makes decisions” section of the fund description on the platform whether AI is being used for each fund.

We use the information that organisations provide on the platform to administer funding opportunities and support applications through the platform. We take data protection and security seriously and process information in accordance with our GDPR policy.  Applicant organisational information and application detail will only be shared with the funder to whom the VCSE organisation or community group has applied. Further information about how data is collected, stored, shared, and protected is available in our GDPR policy.

We aim to make application processes as clear and straightforward as possible.  The process of applying for funds will be the same for whichever fund you are applying for on the platform.   If you have a question about how to use the platform, you can use the “Help and Support” link on the menu pane to access our contact form, or email the Fund Gloucestershire team for support on hello@fundglos.org.uk.   If you have questions about your eligibility or the criteria for particular funds these should be directed to the funder organisation, whose contact details will be available on the page “Information and the fund and funding opportunity” on our platform and on our website under For Applicants-Open Funds.

Yes. We aim to provide as much information as possible on the status of your application and the funder decision-making timescales. When you submit an application for funds, you will see a timeline of the key stages in the funder decision-making. This will include an indicative date for when you can expect a decision from a funder as well as other key dates such as offer acceptance dates, grant signature and grant payment dates. If these dates change during the funder review process, the timeline will be updated accordingly.

Applicants will be contacted by email with the outcome of a funding decision.  We will work with funders to encourage feedback to applicants on all applications. If the funder has made an offer of funding, the applicant organisation will be given a specified period to consider whether to accept or reject the funder offer.

This will vary from fund to fund. Funders may choose to make their own grant payments, or they can ask Fund Gloucestershire to make the payments on their behalf.  This will be made clear in the details of each fund, in the section on our platform “Information about the fund and funding opportunity”.

This will depend on the requirements of the individual fund. Successful organisations will be asked to sign a grant agreement and provide proportionate monitoring or evaluation information. Impact reporting requirements will be made clear from the outset in the section on “Information about the fund and funding opportunity”.   Fund Gloucestershire will work with funders to encourage simple, clear and proportionate impact reporting requirements.  Impact reporting will be uploaded onto the platform for the relevant funder to access. During the period of the grant, funders will own and maintain their relationship with applicant organisations.  

Our understanding of who funders are goes beyond the traditional definition of a funder, as we essentially mean any private or public body, individual or VCSE organisation, which needs to distribute funding in the county.   For example, the following are all examples of funders who may benefit from Fund Gloucestershire services:

• Charitable Trusts and Foundations;
• Public sector bodies
• Businesses and corporate giving programmes
• VCSE organisations holding funds on behalf of a funder for onward distribution or regranting
• VCSE organisations managing or administering funds on behalf of a collective programme, collaboration or partnership
• Philanthropists

At launch, Fund Gloucestershire offers two key services to funders: Fund Administration and Fund Stewardship. 

We work with each funder to understand what they want to achieve and agree the level of support they need. You can read more about both of these services on the For Funders section of our website, or contact us direct at hello@fundglos.org.uk to arrange a call or meeting to discuss how we can help.

We work with each funder to understand what they want to achieve with their funding and agree the level of support they need to administer their funds or hold their funds until they are ready to distribute them.   The support that Fund Gloucestershire provides is tailored to their specific requirements.

Yes.  Fund Gloucestershire’s Fund Stewardship Service provides a secure and neutral way to hold, administer and distribute funds on behalf of funders, VCSE organisations, partnerships and community panels.

Our Fund Stewardship Service offers:

• Secure and neutral fund holding;
• Administration of payments to VCSE organisations and groups;
• Set-up of application-based funding programmes as required;
• Grant application administration;
• Grant agreements and payments;
• Financial record-keeping and reporting.

Our Fund Stewardship Service is intended to reduce the administrative burden of fund distribution on funders and VCSE organisations.  It does not replace the relationships between funders, applicants and funded organisations.  Fund Gloucestershire’s role is to provide the financial and administrative infrastructure needed to put those decisions into effect.

Any questions related to our Fund Stewardship Service should be directed to hello@fundglos.org.uk in the first instance.

Fund Gloucestershire is a registered charity. Our charitable objects are centred on enhancing the efficiency and the effectiveness of the VCSE sector in Gloucestershire. Wherever possible, we aim to structure our services so that VCSE organisations can access funding without additional cost.

Our charges for hosting and administering funds on behalf of funders is based on a sliding scale of deductions and depends on the nature and scope of the service provided. Where Fund Gloucestershire provides fund administration services, we agree a proportionate deduction with the funder that will enable us to become sustainable as an organisation and to continue to provide our services to the VCSE without charge.

One of our core values is “Always Learning”. We recognise that we are doing something new in the VCSE and funding sectors and we want to take time to listen and learn to feedback from both applicants and funders as we look to establish and then develop and grow our services. 

We have a number of ideas for building on the services that we are providing at launch, but we want them to be informed by user feedback and by the challenges that the sector faces so that we can respond according to sector need at the time.