# Which UK trusts accept unsolicited applications, and how to tell

Some UK trusts accept applications from anyone eligible, some consider letters, some fund by invitation only. The website, the trustees' report and the grants list tell you which in minutes, before you write.

- Author: OpenGrant
- Topic: [Prospect research](https://opengrant.co.uk/blog/category/prospect-research)
- Published: 2026-10-26
- Updated: 2026-10-26
- Source sites checked: 2026-10-26
- Canonical URL: https://opengrant.co.uk/blog/do-uk-trusts-accept-unsolicited-applications
- Part of: [Trust fundraising prospect research: how to find out who funds charities like yours](https://opengrant.co.uk/blog/trust-fundraising-prospect-research)

## Key facts

- Open on 26 October 2026: Garfield Weston Foundation accepts applications all year; Esmée Fairbairn Foundation takes rolling expressions of interest; Trust for London accepts applications at any time for most priorities.
- Invitation only: the Tudor Trust says it has no traditional written application process and invites organisations after conversations with grant partners and its own research.
- For trusts with no website, the trustees' annual report in the accounts usually states the grant-making policy, and the grants list shows whether new recipients appear each year.
- OpenGrant's funder pages answer "does this funder accept unsolicited applications?" for every funder with a live scheme, based on whether the scheme is open to applications or by invitation.
- Rolling programmes are unsolicited applications with a form: 142 of the 407 schemes open to UK charities and community groups on OpenGrant were rolling on 26 October 2026.

Some UK trusts accept applications from anyone eligible, some consider letters they did not ask for, and some fund only organisations they approach. Which is which is usually public, in the website, the trustees' report inside the accounts and the grants list. This guide names the signals and says what to do when the answer is no.

## Three kinds of trust

An [unsolicited application](https://opengrant.co.uk/glossary/unsolicited-application) is a request the funder did not invite. Whether it is welcome depends on which of three kinds of trust you are dealing with.

**Open funders** run programmes and want applications from anyone who meets the criteria. The application may be a form, a portal, a letter or an [expression of interest](https://opengrant.co.uk/glossary/expression-of-interest), and it may be open all year as a [rolling programme](https://opengrant.co.uk/glossary/rolling-programme) or in rounds. Garfield Weston Foundation says it accepts applications all year round. Esmée Fairbairn Foundation accepts expressions of interest on a rolling basis, subject to a £30,000 minimum grant and a £100,000 minimum turnover. Trust for London's apply page says it accepts applications on a rolling basis for most priority areas, after an eligibility quiz and a call with a grant manager. For these funders "unsolicited" is the normal route and the question is fit.

**Letter funders** have no programme but consider requests as they arrive. Most are small, many have no website, and their policy lives in their accounts. For them an unsolicited letter is the only route, and a well-aimed one has a fair chance.

**Invitation funders** approach organisations themselves. The Tudor Trust's grant-making page on 26 October 2026 said: "We do not have a traditional, written application process." It describes mapping organisations working towards its goals, conversations beginning with current grant partners and desk research, and invitations that mean "we are ready to have a conversation about awarding a grant". An unsolicited application to the Tudor Trust is not read as an application.

## Signal one: the website

Where a trust has a website, it almost always answers the question within two clicks. Look for an "apply", "funding" or "grants" page. Three outcomes are common. A programme with criteria, a form and timescales means open. A sentence such as "we do not accept unsolicited applications" or "the trustees identify organisations through their own research" means invitation only. A site that describes what the trust has funded but gives no route means read the accounts, because the trust may be a letter funder that has not thought to say so.

Check the date on the page. Trusts change policy, pause programmes and launch strategies, and a page last updated two years ago may describe a programme that has closed. The funder's latest trustees' report, which is never more than 22 months old, is the check.

## Signal two: the trustees' annual report

Every charity in England and Wales with income over £25,000 files its trustees' annual report and accounts with its annual return within 10 months of its year end, and a [grant-making trust](https://opengrant.co.uk/glossary/grant-making-trust)'s report normally includes a grant-making policy. The sentences to find are about who may apply and how: "the trustees consider applications from registered charities working in Lancashire", "applications are considered at the trustees' meetings in March and October", "the trustees do not respond to unsolicited requests and select beneficiaries themselves". Any of these settles the matter. [How to read a grant-making trust's accounts](https://opengrant.co.uk/blog/how-to-read-a-grant-making-trusts-accounts) shows where the report sits and what else it contains.

Where the report says nothing about applications, read on to the grants list.

## Signal three: the grants list

The list of grants made, in the notes to the accounts or in the trustees' report, shows the policy in action. Compare two or three years. If new recipients appear each year, applications are getting through by some route, and a letter is worth sending. If the same ten or twelve names appear every year with the same amounts, the trust has a settled circle and a new applicant is unlikely to break into it whatever the policy says. If the recipients are all one kind of organisation, a cathedral, a school, a hospital, the trust's objects are narrower than its register classification suggests.

For the 355 funders that publish to [360Giving](https://opengrant.co.uk/glossary/360giving), GrantNav shows the same list over many years with a download, and the funder's OpenGrant page shows the share of recent grants that went to registered charities, unregistered groups or companies. [How to use 360Giving data to find funders](https://opengrant.co.uk/blog/how-to-use-360giving-data-to-find-funders) explains that reading.

## Signal four: the OpenGrant funder page

Each [funder page](https://opengrant.co.uk/funders/a-z) on OpenGrant answers "does this funder accept unsolicited applications?" for funders with a live scheme in OpenGrant's sources, based on whether the scheme is open to applications or by invitation only, and lists the scheme with its deadline and award. For [Trust for London](https://opengrant.co.uk/funders/trust-for-london) on 26 October 2026 the answer was yes, one rolling scheme up to £250,000. For funders with no scheme in OpenGrant's sources, such as the [Zochonis Charitable Trust](https://opengrant.co.uk/funders/zochonis-charitable-trust), the page says so and shows the register facts, which is the cue to open the accounts. The [rolling deadlines page](https://opengrant.co.uk/grants/deadlines/rolling) lists every scheme that accepts applications at any time, 142 of the 407 open to charities and community groups on that date.

## When the answer is yes

An open funder still filters most applicants before they start, and NCVO's advice is to treat the factual criteria of income, location and legal status as a hard gate: if you fail them, do not apply. Read the eligibility rules, check the typical grant against your request, and follow the route the funder has chosen. [How to apply to Esmée Fairbairn Foundation](https://opengrant.co.uk/blog/how-to-apply-to-esmee-fairbairn-foundation) and [how to apply to Garfield Weston Foundation](https://opengrant.co.uk/blog/how-to-apply-to-garfield-weston-foundation) show two open funders' routes in detail. For a letter funder, send two pages addressed to the correspondent named in the accounts, timed for the trustees' meeting, with accounts enclosed.

## When the answer is no

Do not send an application. Three things are still worth doing. Record the trust in your [pipeline](https://opengrant.co.uk/blog/how-to-build-a-trust-fundraising-pipeline) as invitation only, with the source of that judgement and the date, so no one on your team repeats the research or the mistake. Look for a connection: a trustee you know, a current grant partner of the trust, an infrastructure body it works with, and ask whether an introduction would be welcome. And where the trust's policy says it researches organisations itself, make sure it can find you: a clear website, filed accounts, a 360Giving footprint through your other funders, and a presence in the networks it draws on.

## A worked example

A fictional homelessness charity in Liverpool shortlists twelve trusts from its peers' accounts and a GrantNav search. Four have websites that describe open programmes; it checks eligibility and keeps three. Two websites say the trustees do not accept unsolicited applications; both are recorded and left. Six trusts have no website. It reads six sets of accounts in an hour and a half: three trustees' reports say applications from registered charities in Merseyside are considered at meetings in spring and autumn, one says beneficiaries are selected by the trustees, and two are silent but show new recipients each year. Letters go to five letter funders in February; three programme applications are scheduled by decision date; four trusts are filed as closed. Twelve names became eight approaches, each by the route the trust has chosen, and no application went to a funder that would not read it.

## Keep the answer dated

Policies change. A trust that paused applications during a strategy review may reopen; one that was open may close to new applicants after an oversubscribed year. Record the date you checked beside the answer, and recheck any trust you are about to approach if the date is more than a few months old. OpenGrant's funder pages show when each funder was last verified, and a funder's own trustees' report shows the year its policy describes.

## Frequently asked questions

### What does unsolicited application mean?

An application the funder did not invite and has no open programme for. Trusts divide into those that run open programmes and welcome applications from anyone eligible, those with no programme that consider letters as they arrive, and those that fund only organisations they approach. The last group will say it does not accept unsolicited applications.

### Which large UK trusts accept unsolicited applications?

On 26 October 2026 Garfield Weston Foundation accepted applications all year round; Esmée Fairbairn Foundation accepted expressions of interest on a rolling basis, with a £30,000 minimum grant and a £100,000 minimum turnover; and Trust for London accepted applications at any time for most priority areas. Henry Smith Foundation runs named programmes with windows. Each publishes eligibility rules that filter most applicants before they start.

### Which trusts do not accept unsolicited applications?

Those that say so, and the Tudor Trust is the clearest current example: its grant-making page says it has no traditional written application process and that invitations follow conversations and its own research. Many family trusts state in their accounts that trustees identify beneficiaries themselves. OpenGrant's funder pages flag invitation-only schemes where a funder has one in its sources.

### How do I find out if a small trust with no website accepts applications?

Read its latest accounts on the charity register. The trustees' annual report usually contains a sentence on policy, such as that trustees consider applications from registered charities in a named county, or that they do not accept unsolicited requests. Then read the grants list: new names each year means applications get through; the same names every year means a closed circle.

### Is it ever worth writing to a trust that says no unsolicited applications?

Not with an application. A short note introducing your organisation, with no request, is sometimes acceptable where the trust's policy says it researches organisations itself, because it gives the trust something to find. An introduction through a trustee, a current grant partner or a local infrastructure body is better. Record the trust and move your effort to funders that have said yes.

## Find grants

- [Funders A–Z](https://opengrant.co.uk/funders/a-z) (Markdown: https://opengrant.co.uk/funders/a-z.md)
- [Grants for charities and community groups](https://opengrant.co.uk/grants/for/charities) (Markdown: https://opengrant.co.uk/grants/for/charities.md)
- [Rolling grant programmes](https://opengrant.co.uk/grants/deadlines/rolling) (Markdown: https://opengrant.co.uk/grants/deadlines/rolling.md)
- [Browse rolling grant schemes](https://opengrant.co.uk/grants/deadlines/rolling)

## Related guides

- [What is a grant-making trust and how do you approach one?](https://opengrant.co.uk/blog/what-is-a-grant-making-trust): A grant-making trust is a charity that exists to give money to other charities rather than run services. The UK has tens of thousands, from foundations with programmes to family trusts with no website.
- [How to read a grant-making trust's accounts and annual return](https://opengrant.co.uk/blog/how-to-read-a-grant-making-trusts-accounts): A trust's accounts on the charity register show its grant-making policy, the grants it made, how much it has to give and whether it will consider you. Where each answer sits and how to read it in fifteen minutes.
- [How to apply to the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation: who it funds, typical awards and timescales](https://opengrant.co.uk/blog/how-to-apply-to-esmee-fairbairn-foundation): Esmée Fairbairn Foundation is open to applications all year, with a £30,000 minimum and a 5% success rate from expression of interest to grant. Who fits, what it pays and how long it takes.
- [How to apply to the Garfield Weston Foundation: who it funds, typical awards and deadlines](https://opengrant.co.uk/blog/how-to-apply-to-garfield-weston-foundation): The Garfield Weston Foundation accepts applications all year round and gives around £100m a year to UK charities. Who qualifies, what a typical grant looks like and how the major grant route works.

## Sources and further reading

- [Garfield Weston Foundation: How to apply](https://garfieldweston.org/for-grant-applicants/how-to-apply/)
- [Esmée Fairbairn Foundation: Applications](https://esmeefairbairn.org.uk/applications/)
- [Trust for London: Apply for funding](https://trustforlondon.org.uk/funding/apply-for-funding)
- [Tudor Trust: Our grant-making](https://www.tudortrust.org.uk/our-work/our-grant-making/)
- [Charity Commission: Prepare a charity annual return](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/prepare-a-charity-annual-return)
- [NCVO: Understanding a grant fund](https://www.ncvo.org.uk/help-and-guidance/funding-income/all-about-grants/understanding-grant-fund/)

All guides: https://opengrant.co.uk/blog.md · Glossary: https://opengrant.co.uk/glossary.md · Agent index: https://opengrant.co.uk/llms-guides.txt