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The material on this page is for beginners. If you have at least three years’ experience, you may find the pages on the menu connected to the following page more useful: https://goodgrantfundraising.org.uk/work-proportionate-to-its-value/.
Research isn’t something everyone can do well, but it’s critical and something you can improve at over time. You need three skills:
Comprehension skills, including the ability to recognize when something is very ambiguous. (The trust may not even realize it’s being ambiguous, but you need to, as only one of the possible meaning might work for you.)
Detective skills. You can end up piecing bits of evidence together to establish what the trust really thinks on the matters that are most important to you. That may seem weird, but the fact is that trusts are often run by hobbyists, or people who’re very stretched for time and it’s entirely up to them how well they choose to communicate.
An ability to keep up the concentration. Some people like to take breaks and mix research up with other things, because it can get tiring and you can start missing things.