A community group finds a promising grant and begins adding donations, volunteer help and borrowed equipment to its budget. Before treating those contributions as match funding, it needs to read the programme’s definition.
Some programmes require a contribution from elsewhere; others encourage it or do not require it at all. The National Lottery Community Fund’s Fairer Life Chances guidance, for example, describes its own approach to other funding. It does not establish a rule for every community grant.
Turn the guidance into four questions
- Is a match required, optional or irrelevant to this programme?
- Does it have to be cash, or are specified in-kind contributions accepted?
- Is the percentage calculated against the grant requested or the total eligible project cost?
- When must the contribution be confirmed, spent and evidenced?
The percentage basis matters. In an invented example, a grant of 8,000 plus a 2,000 contribution creates a 10,000 project. The contribution is 20% of the total but 25% of the grant. Those descriptions are not interchangeable.
Do not add volunteer time or a donated room as eligible match merely because they have value to the project. They count only if the programme permits that contribution and its evidence meets the stated conditions.
Separate promises from confirmed resources
Keep a budget note for each proposed contribution: provider, amount or permitted valuation, confirmation status, restrictions and evidence location. Mark an application to another fund as pending until there is an actual decision.
Check whether the same contribution is already committed elsewhere and whether the funding sources can be combined. Avoid counting one resource twice or assuming that an award can cover costs outside its eligible period.
If the guidance leaves a material question open, ask the funder before submitting. A documented answer is more useful than a balanced spreadsheet built on the wrong interpretation. The budget should show resources the project can legitimately rely on, not simply numbers that make the application total work.