Funding opportunities

You may choose to submit more than one application, but your applications will be in competition with one another for a fixed pot of funding. It is unlikely that Trustees would award two grants to one organisation in one funding call and so we would recommend that you prioritise an application for the work you feel is most likely to have significant and sustainable impact.

We have been asked whether it is worth resubmitting an application that has been turned down. As with all funders we receive many more excellent applications than we are able to fund, but it is possible that in a subsequent call for proposals a particular project could make it across the line. For large scale projects we offer feedback and we would expect that to be taken into account before resubmission. We recognise the time involved and the emotional roller coaster of applying for grants. Before resubmitting you may wish to consider carefully how your team would respond to being turned down a second time if you were to apply again.

Once a grant is awarded, we recognise that the planning phase takes time. Whilst a good application will anticipate most stages of a project, there will always be unknown factors in play.  In addition, we are committed to co-production which by its very nature requires that many voices influence the way forward. We are therefore very happy to speak to you as the project unfolds if you feel that the work is significantly diverging from that which you had originally set out. We provide ourselves on being flexible, whilst staying focussed on the intended benefits of a project. 

Once we notify you that a grant has been awarded, we send you the grant terms and conditions which includes a request for your organisation’s bank details. As soon as you return the signed agreement, we can transfer funds to the allocated account for your use.

Universities have been recipients of funding from the BTFN to undertake excellent nursing research over many years. As a charitable organisation, our grant applications are not evaluated by an expert academic panel, which may affect their eligibility for inclusion in certain research portfolios.   

We recognise that our grant amounts may not be sufficient to undertake many pieces of work and we are open to organisations using our funds to add to existing grant funding to enable work to go ahead. Equally you may wish to use funding from BTFN as a lever to secure funds elsewhere. We ask that you are entirely transparent about this and that BTFN is acknowledged in the same way as a funding partner.  

Reporting varies between grant programmes. For small grants we require a final report once your work is complete. For larger grants we release funds in tranches and require an interim report so that we know the work is proceeding as planned before we release the next tranche of the grant. We will share reporting guidance for each programme, but we do not wish this to be onerous. Instead, we hope to support you to tell the story of the great work you are doing, sharing the successes, the learning and the difference you are making in the lives of the people you care for.