Timings

Photos: Valentina Conde and (insert) STIL on Unsplash

This webpage is for trust fundraisers with three or more years’ experience. Beginners should use this page instead.

You will be aware by now that an ability to hit enough deadlines is a key skill. In the case of reports, that means finding out how far in advance of the end of the year the trust needs the report so that your grants don’t gradually drop further and further back in the year. Usually, sending a proposal between ten or eleven months from the previous grant will be fine:

This has worked for me / my team, except where the trust has specified the report needs to be after 12 months.

A consequence is that it’s all the more important not to over promise in terms of impacts. You’re going to have to say “We’re on target to reach X”. So, if you over-committed in the proposal, it will make it a bit more challenging for you to keep on schedule at this point.