Funding the Unfundable 2025 - Application Form

The Purpose of our Mini-Foundation

Our mission is to unlock the potential of charities by investing in their capacity, not just their projects. We’ll do this by offering free access to our premium AI tools, providing pro bono consulting to strengthen digital and operational capability, and awarding small but powerful unrestricted grants of £100–£1,000. Our pro bono consulting usually works best with operational and technical projects, like getting set up on a new CRM or defining funding requirements. Although applicants might apply for all types of awards, as we’re just starting out (and have only £5,000 to give away) there might be instances where applicants only get some of what they ask for e.g. an offer for pro-bono capacity but no funding.

The foundation is rooted in the belief that charities know best what their communities need, our role is to remove barriers, simplify processes, and help them work smarter, not harder.

Principles of the Foundation

We’re building a foundation grounded in trust, relationships, and openness. Our approach is person-centred, a partnership based on agency and support rather than compliance and control. We aim to be transparent and accessible, with clear communication, user-friendly tools, and a genuine commitment to small and early-stage organisations. Funding will be flexible and experimental, supporting learning and innovation even when outcomes are uncertain. But our support doesn’t end with a grant: we’ll offer help with applications, provide constructive feedback to every applicant, and create opportunities for mentorship, reflection, and peer learning.

Categories and Application Process

The foundation welcomes applications across five broad areas: Core & Operational Support, Capacity Building & Innovation, Advocacy & Movement Building, Community & Creativity, and Inclusion & Access. This means we can fund anything from staff costs, systems upgrades, and training, to advocacy campaigns, digital inclusion work, or creative community initiatives that build belonging and resilience. Our process is intentionally light-touch: there are no strict eligibility criteria, and applications are designed to take hours, not days. Standard due diligence documents are not compulsory in this application because we appreciate that some small organisations might not have all the necessary documents. But for those who are large enough to submit them, we aim to give useful feedback on it and recommend uploading to help with the process.

Applications are open for six weeks and will close at 11:59pm on Sunday 30th November and we'll aim to share outcomes by mid December

Please use the chat feature in the lower right hand corner if you have questions during the process and be on the lookout for some surprise tools at the end, we're just starting to test them so keen to hear feedback, thanks for joining us on our journey to be funders!