Funding fundamentals: choosing the right funds and thinking like a funder

This online short course is designed for organisations that want to improve how they identify suitable funds and strengthen the quality of their funding applications. The session focuses on choosing the right opportunities, understanding how funders make decisions, and using practical tools, including AI, in a safe and sensible way to support your funding work.

The session will be participatory, with opportunities for discussion and reflection. You are encouraged to keep your camera on and take part in group activities throughout.

Participants will gain an introduction to key aspects of:

Choosing the right funds - understanding how to assess whether a fund matches your organisation’s needs and avoid spending time on opportunities that are unlikely to succeed

Using Funding Scotland effectively - making the most of search tools, filters, saved searches and alerts to stay organised and focused

Using digital tools, including AI, responsibly - understanding where tools can support research, idea‑shaping and clarity, and where human judgement must lead

Thinking like a funder - gaining insight into how funders assess applications and what they typically look for

Strengthening application quality - learning how to communicate your work clearly and ensure your applications align with fund criteria

• Choosing the right funds - understanding how to identify suitable opportunities and avoid wasting time on low‑fit applications
• Using Funding Scotland and other tools to search, organise and prioritise opportunities
• Using digital tools, including AI, in an effective and responsible way to support funding research and planning
• Thinking like a funder - understanding what funders look for and how decisions are made
• Improving application quality - learning how to align your proposal with a fund’s criteria and communicate your work clearly and effectively

This course is part of our Funding fundamentals series, which can be studied independently or in conjunction with each other.

• Funding fundamentals: growing support through giving and events - 21 May, 10am to 11.30am

In addition to this series there is the Introduction to fundraising course, which is designed as a stand-alone course.

• Small to medium‑sized organisations looking to improve their approach to grant funding
• Staff, volunteers or board members involved in preparing funding applications who wants to strengthen their approach

We welcome your feedback to help us continue improving the course, so please take a moment to complete the post‑course survey and share any comments you may have.