What grants do well

Grants fund things no customer will pay for — early-stage work, services for people who can't pay, capital projects. They're non-repayable and, handled right, usually sit outside tax. The catch: they're competitive, often restricted to specific activities, and they end. Build your whole model on them and you're one funding round from a crisis. Our funding portal surfaces grants you may not know exist.

What trading income does well

Earned income — selling goods, services or contracts — is unrestricted and sustainable. It builds independence and can be scaled. But it takes real effort to earn, and for a charity, significant non-primary-purpose trading may need to run through a trading subsidiary to stay tax-efficient (profits gift-aided back to the charity). Get that structure right early.

Resilience is a blend The strongest social organisations don't pick one — they combine reliable trading income for the core with grants for growth and the unfundable. A healthy reserves policy on top means a lost grant is a setback, not an emergency.