trustfunding.org.uk
Help Manual
CONTENTS
Step 1 - Log in
Step 2 - Search for funding
Keyword search
o Trust name
o All description text
o Trust address
o Trust postcode
o Trustee names
o Charity commission number
Describe your project/organisation
o Location
o Beneficiaries
o Type of organisation
o Focus of activity
o Type of funding
Example searches
Step 3 - Search Results
Screen 1- Results Grid
Screen 2- List of Trusts
Screen 3- Full Trust Details
Step 4 - Profile
Personal details (basic/advanced)
Saved searches
Saved trusts
Downloading Information
Step 5 - Help
Step 6 - Troubleshooting Subscription Problems
Can’t Log In
Renew
Subscribe to additional website
Number of Licenses Required
Welcome to the help manual for DSC’s trustfunding website. When used effectively the
search features on this site will help you locate grant-making trusts and organisations likely
to be able to offer you funding specific to your needs.
Please take the time to work through this step-by-step guide before you begin to make
applications for funding as it will help you to use the powerful search features that have
been provided on this site to full effect.
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STEP 1- LOG IN
Go to www.trustfunding.org.uk
Log in using the box in the top right-hand corner of the page. The website will allow you to
search without logging in, but will not display the results until you have entered both your
email address and password.
 Please make sure that you keep a record of your email address and password in a
safe place
 If you have forgotten or lost your password, then enter your email address and click
on the ‘lost password’ button and your password will be emailed you.
First screen
Once you have logged in you will be taken to the ‘profile’ page. This page provides details
about your subscription, and allows you to edit personal information and change your
password. For help with these and other options available from the profile page, such as
how to access saved searches and trusts, please refer to Step 4 in this manual.
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STEP 2- SEARCH FOR FUNDING
Once you have logged in, click on ‘search for funding’ from the menu that runs along the top
of the screen.
The page that opens up has three sections, and enables you to search using a variety of
techniques.
KEYWORD SEARCH
The top half of the screen allows you to search using keywords, in the same way that an
internet search engine might. This type of search is recommended mainly for trusts that you
have heard of already, or for subjects that are not very common.
Underneath the box where you type the keyword you should select one of the following
options to ‘limit’ the search.
The default option is to search for words from the trust name. Type the word(s) that you
think appear in the trust name in the box and then hit the search now button at the bottom of
the screen.
The website will run the search, but can only match the exact word(s) that you have typed.
EXAMPLE: Typing Barclays will bring back different results to typing Barclay.
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If you select this option then the entire database will be searched for the terms you have
entered. This can be very useful if you want gain an overview of how popular a particular
topic is. It can also be useful if you are searching using uncommon words, which you only
expect to return a small number of results (e.g. searching for Ballet).
 This search technique does however come with a caution, because it simply matches
the search term with the description text regardless of the context.
EXAMPLE: This means that the results for searching for the word ‘individuals’ will
include trusts where the detail states “we do not fund individuals”.
 This search will also only match the exact words you have entered, so if a different term
has been used to describe the area you are interested in then this will not show up in the
results
EXAMPLE: If you search for ‘disabled’ but the term used throughout the database is
‘disability’ then you will not return any results.
Selecting this option matches the term you enter with the main address of the trust. This is
useful if you already know the address of a specific trust, but you can also use it to identify
all trusts that have an office in a certain town or city.
 The more exact you can be the more chance you have of returning accurate and specific
results.
EXAMPLE: searching for London will return over 1000 but searching for Camden will
return only 2.
This option is available to help you quickly identify a trust that you know about already. The
postcode can be entered in full to give you the exact trust you need, or you can put in the
first part of the postcode to find out the trusts in a given area. S1 would for example find
trusts based in central Sheffield.
This search can be useful if you want to look for a trustee you are familiar with. By typing
their name and then hitting the search button you will be able to locate all of the trusts that
they are associated with. This can be particularly useful as trustees often act on behalf of
more than one trust of similar purpose, and might look favourably on your application if they
have granted you funding before.
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This is the final way to make a keyword search more specific, and is really only useful if you
already know the number of the trust you are interested in. Every trust has a unique six
figure number that they can be identified by so when you search using this number only one
result will be given.
DESCRIBE YOUR PROJECT OR ORGANISATION
The bottom half of the screen allows you to describe your specific funding need by
answering a series of questions. This search method is valuable because by selecting your
answers from the options provided, you can be sure that they will match the terms used in
the database.
It is not necessary to provide an answer to every question, but the more detail that you
supply the more targeted your results will be.
Q1. Where is your project based?
Many trusts place geographical restrictions on their funding, so it is useful to answer this
question and eliminate trusts that you will not be eligible for from the results.
 If you select a very specific place then the search engine will automatically include trusts
that fund broader areas in which this place is based, so it is best to be as precise as
possible.
EXAMPLE: If you have selected Swansea, then a trust that says it provides funding
throughout Wales will be included in the results.
 If you are seeking funding for a project that will be run in a different location to your
organisation, then you should select the project location.
EXAMPLE: If your offices are in Central London but you are running a project in Essex,
then you should select Essex as the location
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To answer this question you should click on the ‘select’ button and then a separate window
will open, which gives you three ways to answer the question.
3.
2.
1
1
.
1. Locations tree
This method allows you to select locations from a list that has been arranged hierarchically.
This means that the options start-off as broad categories then you can make them more
precise.
To use the tree you should highlight the area which is appropriate for your project. If you
are happy with this location then click on the ‘add’ button and the location will appear in the
space below.
If you would like to select a more precise location then highlight the relevant area/region and
click on the ‘down a level’ button. Repeat this process until you have found the area that
you are looking for.
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EXAMPLE: For a project happening in Stirling you would,Highlight ‘United Kingdom’ then click
Highlight ‘Great Britain’ then click
Highlight ‘Scotland’ then click
Highlight ‘Stirling’ then click
Once all of the areas that you want to include are visible in the bottom half of the screen,
click on the ‘ok’ button, and the pop-up window will disappear and your answers will appear
next to the question on the main screen as shown here,-
2. Search using postcode
If you would rather describe your location by postcode than place name, then click on the
‘search using postcode’ button in the top corner of the pop-up window. This will bring up a
text box into which you can type as many post-codes as you like, separating each one with
a comma.
Once you are finished click on ‘add’ and this will be used as your location.
EXAMPLE: Typing N1, NW1, NE1 would locate your project in Central North London.
3. Keyword Search
This method offers a final way of specifying the area where your project is located and can
be useful if you are unsure how to find your area/region from the tree. Once the pop-up
window appears click on the ‘keyword search’ button in the top right hand corner and you
will be able to type into the box that comes up. Once you have typed the name of a place,
click on the ‘search’ button and a number of options will be displayed below. Highlight the
most relevant one by clicking on it and then ‘add’ it to the window underneath.
Q2. Who are the beneficiaries?
This option should only be used if you are looking for funding for a particular group of
people, such as ‘women’ or ‘people of the Jewish faith’. If you seek funding for a general
project such as a community centre for an entire neighbourhood, then it is better not to
answer this question as you might eliminate some useful funders from your results.
Use this search feature in the same way as the ‘locations tree’, highlighting a group that
seems relevant and using the ‘down a level’ button to make the selection more precise.
If you feel that your project will be relevant to more than one group then use the ‘Ctrl’ key to
highlight more than one option, and then ‘add’ them all to the space underneath.
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Q3: What type of organisation are you?
This question allows you to describe your organisation by selecting an option from the drop
down menu. There are eight different options from which you should select the most
relevant; it is not possible to choose more than one of these options.







Large national body e.g. Shelter
Small national body e.g. Mind
Organisation that is not a registered charity e.g. Amnesty International
Branch of a national network e.g. Norwich Age Concern
Headquarters of a national network e.g. Make Poverty History Campaign Headquarters
Local organisation e.g. Barnsley Access Select Committee
Regional organisation e.g. Yorkshire Charities Group
By answering this question you will help the search engine to eliminate trusts that you
will not be eligible for and thus make the results more accurate.
However, many organisations will not fit exactly into one of these categories. If you are
in this position then it is best to leave the question blank.
Q4: What is the focus of your activity?
This question has been included to allow you to describe the reason that you are looking
for funding. There are various options arranged in a tree format, and you can select the
most appropriate ones using the method described for the locations tree.
When you run the search, the category ‘general charitable purpose’ will be automatically
included to ensure you have access to all trusts, which do not limit their funding by
purpose
Q5. What type of funding are you looking for?
If you know exactly how the funds will be spent then you should answer this final
question. It provides a variety of options in a drop-drown menu from which you should
select the relevant one. It is not possible to select more than one of these options, so if
you feel that none are appropriate then it is best not to provide any answer, as you might
exclude useful trusts from the results.
EXAMPLE: If you are hoping to source money for a minibus then you should select
‘vehicle’. This will refine your results because all of the trusts that will not fund vehicles
will be excluded.
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EXAMPLE SEARCHES
The different ways of carrying out a search have been described above. In order to
return the most relevant trusts, you do not necessarily need to answer every question.
The following scenarios explain how you might combine search tools in different
situations- the search selections have been highlighted:
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 EXAMPLE 1:
If you are a small organisation that runs a legal advice centre in Croydon and the
building requires some renovation work then you might run the following search,
answering the four relevant questions, and ignoring the ‘keyword search’ option
completely.
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 EXAMPLE 2:
 EXAMPLE 3:
If you are looking for funding for a
HIV/AIDs awareness programme in
Zambia then you might run an initial
search that finds all trusts where Zambia
is mentioned, as this is not a common
country. To do this you could use the
‘keyword’ search box, and select
the ‘all description text’ option.
If you have heard that there is a trust
based in Nottingham that has funding for
sports projects but you don’t know its
name you might run the following search
.
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STEP 3 - SEARCH RESULTS
Once you have set the search criteria, you will be able run a search by hitting the ‘search
now’ button at the bottom of the screen.
The results will then appear on the right hand side of the screen, organised in a grid that
helps you to identify the ones that seem most relevant. From this grid you can choose to
view the results in one of three ways.
SCREEN 1- RESULTS GRID
1. View all
2. Choose
according
to subject
For help with this option
see step 4
3. Choose according
to geographical area
1. View all
If you select this option it will bring up a list of all of the trusts that matched your search.
2. Choose according to subject
Categories have been assigned to each trust depending on the areas that they have
indicated they will support.
If you click on a subject that is likely to be relevant to you, a list of all the trusts that
provide funding for that purpose will appear.
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 If you have provided an answer to Q4 (What is the focus of your activity?) then the
subjects that are listed will match the options you selected.
3. Choose according to geographical area
The columns of the grid allow you to make the results that are displayed more precise.
The left column contains trusts which specify that they only provide funding to projects
that are based in a certain region
The middle column shows trusts that will fund projects based anywhere in the UK
The right column shows trusts that will fund projects based in the UK but also in other
countries.
 If you have provided an answer to Q1 (Where is your project based?) then the
regional trusts that are included should match the region you selected.
 If you did not answer Q1 then the regional trusts that are included might not be
relevant as they may only fund projects in an area where you are not located.
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SCREEN 2- LIST OF TRUSTS
Once you have chosen the trusts you would like to see details for, a list will appear in a
new window. This list is initially organised alphabetically by the full trust name, meaning
trusts that begin with the word ‘The’ will be listed under ‘T’.
It is possible to sort the list in a different way; if you click on the arrow icon next to each
column heading
it will re-sort the list.
EXAMPLE: If you would like to organise the list from the trust with the most
money down to the trust with the least money then click on the bottom arrow,
next to the heading ‘Total Annual Funds’.
At this stage you can scan through the list, and by checking the area that trusts fund,
you can see which ones are likely to be useful to you. The majority of inappropriate
trusts should have been screened out by the options you selected earlier, but this final
step helps you to refine the results even more.
 At the bottom of this screen, you also have the option to:
If you click on this link then the search conditions that you entered will be saved, and you
will be able to run the search without having to enter them again. For more information
on saving searches see step 4.
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SCREEN 3- FULL TRUST DETAILS
If you have scanned the list and feel you would like full information about a trust then
click on its name e.g.
. This will lead to a pop-up window that includes full
trust details. The following sections will appear on a typical entry, but the amount of
information included will depend on how accessible a trust is.
 Trust Name and postal address.
 Contact name and contact details
 Charity number
 Date the information was last updated
 Financial Info- figure for the total amount of money that can be given in grants
 Grant total- how much money was available for grant applications in the year that is
stated
 Area of work- this outlines the area that the trust is most interested in sponsoring and
is assigned from analysis of the trusts’ funding. This is indicative rather than
definitive and should not stop you from closely reading the entry
 Trustee- the names of all trustees will be included here if they are known
 Beneficial area- this explains what geographical (rather than subject) area the trust is
interested in funding. This section will also explain if this is just a preference or if it is
an absolute. Where this information does not appear the trust does not restrict its
funding by area.
 Information available- this section describes the information available directly from
the trust. If there is a website, this is usually the best starting point for information
 Exclusions- this is one of the most useful of the sections as it outlines the areas that
the trust has explicitly stated it cannot fund and it also will provide information about
areas where grants will usually not be given as well.
 Applications- this section will tell you how you should apply to this trust if you want
your application to be considered
 General information- any other information that we have been able to discover about
the trust will be included here. This could be details like why the charity was
founded, who they have recently favoured with applications and any editorial
comment that the experienced DSC staff feel qualified to provide.
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If having viewed the trust you think that they might be of use to you, you can save their
details or print their details using the buttons at the top right hand corner of the window.
If you choose to save the trust then the details will be stored on the ‘profile’ section of the
site. From this section you can extract the contact details as an excel spreadsheet onto
your desktop. For help with this see the information in step 4 below.
STEP 4 - PROFILE
To work in this section of the site you need to click on the ‘profile’ link from the menu that
runs along the top right of the screen:
PERSONAL DETAILS
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There are four parts to the profile section. When it first opens it will show you ‘Basic
details’ about your subscription. The information that is shown here initially should
match the information that you provided when the subscription was taken out.
When you first register with the site please ensure that all sections are complete, and
click on the ‘advanced details’ option at the top of the page to fill out this further
information.
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IMPORTANT
If you need to change any of this information, for example if you want to alter the contact
name for your organisation, please ensure you keep a record of what the original details
were.
You may need these original details in future dealings with DSC because the financial
records from the start of your subscription will be stored under them.
SAVED SEARCHES
By clicking on the ‘saved searches’ option from the menu at the top of the screen you
will be able to re-run any search that have chosen to save (see step 2 above for details
of how to save searches).
If you choose to save a search then the conditions that you have used for this search will
be saved, rather than the results. This means that if you click on the search name
(chosen by you) in the future, it will run again using the most current website information.
The saved search option can also be used to create a few basic search entries that you
can then add on to.
EXAMPLE: You could save the answers to several questions, such as where
your organisation is located and then when you recall this search in the future
you will only need to add more details for the project(s) that you running.
When a new Trust is added or an existing trust is amended that is applicable to the
saved search, and email is generated over night to inform, the user of these changes.
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SAVED TRUSTS
When you click on the ‘saved trusts’ option from the menu at the top of the screen you
will be shown a list of all the trusts that you have chosen to save. The trust name and
basic information are provided, and if you click on the name a window will open
displaying full trust details, which you can print out.
When one of the users saved trusts is updated on the website an email will be sent out
over night informing the user of these changes.
DOWNLOADING INFORMATION
It is not possible to download the full details about the trust, but you can extract the basic
contact information in an Excel spreadsheet. In order to do this you must tick the box to
the left of the trust name and then click on the ‘download trust information’ button in the
bottom left hand corner of the screen.
If you click on this then the window will refresh itself, but this time there will be a bar in
pale blue shading added to the top of the screen:
If you click on this text then a new excel spreadsheet will be created, that contains the
following information:




Organisation Name
Organisation Address
Correspondent
Telephone Number
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The columns in the spreadsheet will be standard size when you first open it up, but you
can drag these out to display the full data.
Once this spreadsheet has been created you can save it in the usual way with Excel
files.
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STEP 5 – HELP
The main help section on the site is made up of a number of different areas. This
manual provides complete step by step instructions to the key tasks of the website. The
A-Z of funding contains a useful glossary of the terminology and acronyms that are
commonly used in the charity fundraising world. There is also brief but helpful advice
about the best way to write an application and a section for Frequently Asked Questions.
When you see this symbol
you can click on it, and a window will appear that
provides help for the section you are looking at.
STEP 6 - TROUBLESHOOTING SUBSCRIPTION PROBLEMS
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IF YOU CAN’T LOG-IN
The most common difficulties experienced when trying to log-in are:
 Wrong username or password: When you first register you will be sent an email
containing your user-name and password. If you change these details (through the
profile section), you must use the new details to log-in. The original user-name and
password will no longer work
 Forgotten password: If you have forgotten your password you can click on the ‘lost
password’ button and an email containing the password will be sent. The email will
be sent to the address that is used as the ‘user-name’
 Subscription expired: You will receive two written and one email reminder in the
month before your subscription is due to expire. If you do not renew in time then
your log-in details will stop working. If this has happened you will need to start a new
subscription
 Technical problems: If you are sure that your subscription is still valid, and you are
using the correct log-in details then there may be a technical glitch. Please email
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[email protected] or phone customer services on 08450 77 77 07 for
assistance
HOW TO RENEW YOUR SUBSCRIPTION
Two months before your subscription is due to run out you will receive a letter from our
customer service team, inviting you to renew the subscription. A pro-forma invoice will
be attached to this letter, allowing you to pay by cheque or BACS transfer.
Another letter will be sent one month before your subscription is due to expire, and
finally an email reminder will be sent out when there are two weeks remaining on your
subscription.
The easiest way to renew is to use the pro-forma invoice attached to these reminders. If
you do not renew at this point and your subscription is lapsed, then you will need to
contact us via email at [email protected] or phone 08450 77 77 07, and request
that we re-instate the subscription.
HOW TO SUBSCRIBE TO AN ADDITIONAL WEBSITE
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If you would like to subscribe to another one of the DSC fundraising websites
(www.companygiving.org.uk, www.grantsforindividuals.org.uk or
www.governmentfunding.org.uk) then you should go to the profile section, and click on
the ‘upgrade your subscription’ link in the top right hand corner,-
This will take you to another screen where you should click on the text that says,
You will then be shown a list of the various
subscriptions available to you, and you can select the best one and purchase it online.
N.B. ‘CG’ stands for company giving; ‘GI’ for grants for individuals; GF for Government
Funding.
NUMBER OF USER LICENSES REQUIRED
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It is not currently possible to upgrade your license once the subscription has been
purchased so please think through the number of licenses you will need before making a
payment. The license relates to the number of users that will access the site.
You can subscribe online to have either 1 user, 2-5 users, 6-10 users or 11-15 users.
Each user will be given a username and password to allow them access to the site. If
you need more than 15 user licenses then please contact our customer services team
via email at [email protected] or phone 08450 77 77 07.
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