Being able to search for funders, and then make a reasonable funding application is very important to most registered charities. Some CIC's and Community Groups also rely heavily on funding to be able to run most of their activities.​ Having a good understanding of grant funding enables organisations to make the best bids that they can which increases their chances of being successful.

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Grant funding forms part of a wider approach to fundraising for your organisation. Fundraising is the process of looking for and finding financial contributions to support the running of your organisations. Fundraising can take many forms and it is really important that you as an organisation have a number of different fundraising strategies, so that if one stream of income fails, you do not come to a cliff edge of income.

Fundraising can take many forms, but are popularly grouped in the following categories:

Community and General Public - This includes challenge events, sponsorship, etc.

Grants - This includes grants for capacity-building, projects and general expenditure.

Trading - This includes selling goods and bidding for Tenders.

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People often get confused with the difference between Procurement and Tendering. Here are some definitions that may be helpful.

Procurement - Encompasses the overall process of acquiring goods and services needed for a project.

Tendering - The term tender means a formal invitation to trade under the terms of offer and the documents associated with that offer.

Contracts - A contract is, generally speaking, a legally binding agreement between parties, where there has been offer, acceptance and consideration.

Many organisations that offer tenders will advertise those tenders on specific portals. You may also need to be registered as a supplier in order to apply for a tender, and this may be worth doing ahead of time.