A £200,000 funding initiative launched last month aims to assist grant-seekers by asking them to tell its funders, the Golden Bottle Trust and the Bulldog Trust, what they really need, rather than completing an application form.

The Bulldog Trust will deliver the initiative, which seeks to make grants of £1,000-£30,000 over a maximum of three years to start-up and existing organisations, who do not need to be registered charities. Applicants are asked to provide concise, clear details of their organisation, along with some basic figures to support their request for funding. There are no criteria, save that the project be charitable and that the support will benefit not just the frontline beneficiaries of a project but also the longer-term running or development of the organisation itself.

A statement from the trust said: “For many smaller organisations looking to launch new projects or consolidate existing ones, securing funding can be extremely difficult and in some cases, impossible. Common problems include time consuming application processes, minimum grant levels being too high, the project not fitting into a specific funding category or the organisation not meeting the strict criteria often required.

“This funding initiative aims to assist, right from the start of the application process by NOT requiring completion of an application form but instead asking organisations to tell us what they need.”

The money will be allocated in two phases. The deadline for the first phase is November 30th and decisions will take place in January 2013.  The second phase will commence in spring 2013.

Mary Rose Gunn, chief executive of the Bulldog Trust, told Philanthropy UK: “The scheme has evolved from The Bulldog Trust’s approach to some of our major grant making. Together with the Golden Bottle Trust, we are trying to see if it can work as a funding scheme…. If the initiative works well, the long-term plan will be to see if other funders would like to contribute funds to the scheme.”

For more information, email Heidi Duckworth at Bulldog Trust.