The way we fund non-profits today rewards the wrong things.
It rewards those who can write the best applications.
Those who understand funder language.
Those who have time, consultants, or years of institutional memory.
And too often, it overlooks something far more important:
Impact.
At Fundin, we believe funding decisions should be based on what organisations do and the change they create — not how well they can package that work into a polished application.
The current system makes that far harder than it needs to be.
A Conversation That Stopped Us in Our Tracks
Recently, we were speaking with a local council about their grant programmes.
They told us something striking and refreshingly honest:
“The bids that score highest are usually the ones that are best written.
But when we look back later, those organisations often deliver worse outcomes.
The applications that are rougher around the edges, the ones that don’t read as well, consistently deliver much better impact.”
They don’t want shiny applications.
They want to find the organisations closest to the problem. The ones delivering real change even if they don’t have the time, confidence, or resources to write perfectly framed bids.
But the system makes that incredibly hard.
What’s Broken in the Current Funding System
Most non-profits will recognise this reality.
They are asked to:
- Re-enter the same organisational information again and again
- Rewrite near-identical answers for every funder
- Spend weeks applying for funding they were never eligible for or with a success rate of less than 5%
At the same time, funders are overwhelmed with applications:
- Many that fail basic eligibility
- Many that vary wildly in structure and clarity
- Many that reflect writing skill more than delivery capability
And funders are making decisions in isolation.
They often can’t easily see:
- What other funders are supporting
- Where funding is already concentrated
- Where the real gaps in provision are
This creates a system where:
- Writing ability becomes a proxy for quality
- Smaller and grassroots non-profits are disadvantaged
- Capacity, not impact, shapes funding outcomes
- Funding overlaps in some areas while critical needs go unmet in others
This isn’t because funders want it this way.
It’s because the infrastructure gives them no alternative.
The result? Staggering waste.
- £900 million is effectively wasted drafting and submitting bids instead of delivering frontline services
- 19 hours are spent on the average grant application – almost a full working day, per bid
- 66% of applications fail, meaning most of that effort goes nowhere
- 1 in 3 submissions are ineligible, never standing a chance from the start
- For smaller non-profits, up to 38% of grant income is spent just applying for funding
Funding Should Be Based on Impact
This is the principle everything else flows from:
Funders should fund non-profits based on impact, need, and delivery – not the quality of their writing.
Good writing does not guarantee good delivery.
Poor writing does not mean poor outcomes.
Yet writing quality has become one of the strongest predictors of success, not because it should be, but because it’s one of the few comparable signals funders currently have.
Fundin exists to change that.
A Better Approach: Shared Grant Management Infrastructure
Instead of forcing non-profits and funders into endless application portals, Fundin provides shared grant management infrastructure.
Non-profits create one reusable, living profile that reflects:
- What they do
- Who they serve
- Where they work
- What impact they deliver
This creates a central infrastructure for each non-profit – a single, trusted source of truth that can be reused far beyond grant funding.
The same data can be used to:
- Introduce non-profits to corporate funders and CSR programmes
- Support crowdfunding campaigns with consistent, credible information
- Apply for government contracts and public sector funding
- Report impact across multiple income streams without duplication
Instead of rebuilding the same organisational narrative for every opportunity, non-profits maintain one profile that works everywhere.
Funders still define their own priorities, eligibility rules, and questions.
Fundin connects the two, while also giving funders access to shared intelligence across the funding ecosystem.
This means funders can:
- See what has already been funded
- Understand where funding is concentrated
- Identify gaps in geography, themes, or communities
- Make decisions with context, not in isolation
Funding becomes more coordinated, more equitable, and more effective.
Why this matters (implicitly, but powerfully)
This isn’t just about saving time.
It means:
- Less duplication across the sector
- Fewer inconsistent claims
- Better long-term data on what actually works
- Infrastructure that supports sustainable funding, not just one-off grants
Non-profits stop chasing funding.
Funding starts flowing through shared, trusted infrastructure.
Three Changes That Make the System Fairer and More Effective
1. Eligibility Is Checked Before Non-Profits Apply
One of the biggest inefficiencies in funding is avoidable rejection.
Non-profits spend time applying to funds they were never eligible for.
Funders spend time rejecting applications that never should have reached review.
Fundin flips this around.
Eligibility is checked before an application is created, using structured organisational information rather than guesswork.
This means:
- Non-profits only apply where they are genuinely eligible
- Funders receive fewer, more relevant applications
- Time and effort are saved on both sides
This alone removes a huge amount of wasted capacity from the system.
2. Non-Profits Reuse the Same Information Across Funders
Non-profits should not have to retell their story from scratch every time they apply for funding.
With Fundin:
- Organisational information is entered once
- Evidence, outcomes, and delivery models are reused
- Profiles improve over time as organisations report and learn
This doesn’t force funders into standardised forms.
It standardises how information is represented.
The result is less admin, less duplication, and more time focused on delivery — not paperwork.
3. A Shared AI Bid Writer Levels the Playing Field
AI can either deepen inequality or reduce it, depending on how it’s used.
Fundin uses a single AI bid-writing layer that translates non-profit information into funder-specific answers.
Crucially:
- The same AI logic is used for everyone
- There are no “better” answers for those who pay more
- Easily reuse the same information across multiple funders
This removes the hidden advantage of:
- Professional grant writers
- Insider language
- Years of bid-writing experience
Funders receive applications that are:
- Clear and consistent
- Easier to compare
- Focused on substance rather than polish
This helps surface exactly the organisations that councils told us they want to find:
those delivering strong outcomes, even if their writing isn’t perfect.
What the Process Looks Like (At a High Level)
The flow is intentionally simple:
- Non-profits maintain one reusable profile
- Funders define priorities and eligibility
- Eligibility is checked upfront
- Applications are generated from existing information
- Humans review, decide, and fund
No endless portals.
No repeated rewriting.
No automated decision-making.
Why This Is Better for Funders
Funders gain:
- Fewer ineligible applications
- More comparable information
- Clearer insight into impact, need, and funding gaps
- Stronger audit trails and defensible decisions
Most importantly, they are no longer forced to rely on writing quality as a stand-in for effectiveness.
They can fund:
What works, not what reads best.
Rebuilding Trust in the Funding System
The funding system doesn’t need more forms.
It doesn’t need shinier applications.
It doesn’t need another portal.
It needs shared infrastructure that:
- Reduces unnecessary admin
- Removes structural bias
- Helps funders see the full picture
- Makes real impact easier to identify
Funding should reward delivery, not eloquence.
It should elevate organisations closest to the work, not those best at describing it.
That’s what Fundin is building.
A grant management tool that standardises information and puts impact back at the centre of funding.
