WALEs - APPLICATION GUIDELINES

Every year, we receive more funding applications to our Wales Fund than we are able to support with grants.  The priorities for the Foundation are World Development and the Environment; our Wales Fund is significantly more modest, and we are therefore only able to support the strongest applications which follow our application guidelines and clearly meet our funding criteria.

We don’t have an application form, so you are free to formulate your proposal as you wish.  However, when applying to the Wales Fund, please follow these guidelines:

• Limit the proposal to no more than 3 sides of A4, and send it in the body of an email to applications@waterloofoundation.org.uk. Applications sent anywhere else will not be counted. Please note that tables of figures don’t always display well in an email.
• State which programme you are applying to – Unpaid Carers, Equity in Education or Pathways out of Poverty. Please also let us know how you heard about this particular funding programme.
• Don’t include attachments or photos; we can ask for these later on.
• Please ensure, as a minimum, the following information is included:
• Organisation information – name, address, constitution and registration details, annual income and expenditure, sources of funding, information on staff and volunteers, website address and contact details.
• Project outline - or purpose for which you are seeking funding. Outline how this meets the priorities of the programme you are applying to.
• Project details - such as cost, timescales and activities.
• Evidence of need - Do reference any statistics, data or research that you use as justification.
• Monitoring and evaluation – Outline your methods and what outcomes you will be measuring.

• Do briefly mention any match funding, evidence of previous success, evaluation studies, awards, or anything else that might make us more confident in funding you. If you have received support from your CVC in putting together this application, please do tell us which.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Do you have an application form?
• Do you have any deadlines?
• How much can I apply for?
• Do you offer multi-year grants?
• Do you offer unrestricted funding?
• When can I expect to hear from you?
• What additional information might you ask for?
• What is the awards process?
• Do you support running costs?
• I have applied to you before and wasn’t successful, can I apply again?
• I have received funding from you before, how long do I have to wait before I can apply to you again?
• I heard that you funded an arts organisation in Wales, but on your website you say you do not fund the arts in Wales, why is this?
• I’ve read all the above, and can’t find the answer to my question. How do I contact you?

Do you have an application form?

No, but please follow the guidelines above.

Do you have any deadlines?

Our Wales funding programmes are currently run on a rolling basis based on the calendar year.

How much can I apply for?

Grants made under our Wales funding programmes typically range from £5k - £30k however we expect organisations to be fully transparent about funding gaps. Applicants’ requests should always be in keeping with their organisation’s annual income; we do not usually provide grants which total more than 25% of an organisation’s annual income.

Do you offer multi-year grants?

Yes, we recognise the benefit in awarding longer-term grants. However, this does mean that the funding likely to be awarded per year is reduced i.e. we rarely make an award for 3 years at a cost of £30k per year, as this equals a total grant of £90k, and our average grant size is £10k-30k. 

Do you offer unrestricted funding?

Yes – We recognise the importance of affording charities the flexibility to allocate funding where it is needed most in order to support beneficiaries.

When can I expect to hear from you?

After submitting your proposal, you should receive an email notification letting you know it has safely arrived. Following that, you will next hear from us once we have done an initial assessment, which will either let you know that we are taking the proposal forward for further research, or that unfortunately you have been unsuccessful / your proposal was ineligible. We do this approximately every 4-8 weeks. If your proposal is taken forward for further assessment, we will be in touch within a few weeks to ask for more information. We will keep you informed of the progress of your application.

What additional information might you ask for?

We often ask to see a copy of your latest audited accounts, or management accounts. We may ask you to provide contact details for a referee, for a copy of the project plan, budget breakdown, case studies and more detail on the monitoring and evaluation methods. We may also request a meeting or visit to your organisation during this time.

What is the awards process?

• Once a decision has been made awarding you a grant, we email you a formal Grant Offer Letter.
• You read, sign and return this to us, keeping a copy for your files, and noting dates for submitting reports. Please read our Terms and Conditions carefully.
• We need you to make the trustees aware of this document, and one of the signatories should be a trustee.  
• Once the grant is paid, you need to send us a receipt acknowledging you have received the funds. We need this for our auditors.
• Later on, you will need to prepare and submit progress reports, as outlined in your Grant Offer Letter

Do you support running costs?

Yes, provided there is a sustainable plan in place for covering these in the long term, and clear justification for the reason you need support in this regard in the short term.

I have applied to you before and wasn’t successful, can I apply again?

Please give us a call before applying again. Generally speaking, if nothing has changed with your project / organisation, then you are unlikely to be successful when resubmitting an application.

I have received funding from you before, how long do I have to wait before I can apply to you again?

Please speak to the Fund Manager that dealt with your previous grant.

I heard that you funded an arts organisation in Wales, but on your website you say you do not fund the arts in Wales, why is this?

From time to time, our trustees fund projects that are of biographical interest to them, which are not eligible to apply to our core funding programmes. These decisions are made entirely at the discretion of the trustees, and they reserve the right to make exceptional awards as they see fit. Our policy is not to fund arts organisations.

I’ve read all the above, and can’t find the answer to my question. How do I contact you?

Please send us an email with your enquiry to info@waterloofoundation.org.uk and we will try to respond to you within a few days. If your query is more urgent, please call the office on 02920 838980.