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signi cantly broader base of applicants to be identi ed and ensures fairness and transparency. However, to enable all applicants for funding to be judged on an equal basis and to ensure that the charity trustees are in receipt of all the information and that the information is presented to them in a consistent manner, an application form is essential.
Application forms will vary and it would be sensible for trustees of any charity aspiring to commence a grant making activity to obtain examples of those used by other charities. This is often preferable to starting with a clean sheet
of paper and trying to design something from scratch. Form design is highly skilled and it is sometimes revealing to learn the many different ways in which an apparently clear request for a simple piece of information can be interpreted by our fellow human beings! Once an application form has been designed, it is sensible to test it out on a number of willing volunteers before using it properly – at least in this way any obvious aws will become apparent!
An application form may be paper based or it may be electronic and available online via the charity’s website etc. Regardless of the design, there are a number of key pieces of information which should be requested via the
application form:
Name of applicant, address, charity and company registration numbers
Name of principal contacts and their roles in the organisation
An explanation of why funding is being sought
Details of project including budgets, plans, other sources of nance, location
Timescale
Latest statutory accounts to be appended
Financial information
Referees
In addition, the guidelines or notes accompanying the application form should set out as clearly as possible the criteria against which any application will be judged. This information is essential to ensure that where possible the charity is not
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