If you’re a social value manager or bid writer who needs to explore what’s available before committing to a live fund, you can save a fund as a draft. This lets you complete just the fund criteria, come back to it later, and access local data to support your planning or bid writing.
Who this is for
This article is aimed at social value seekers and bid writers who want to set up a fund in draft to scope out local need, view relevant data, and build a fund at their own pace without publishing it straight away.
How to set up a draft fund
- Select Create fund in the top right corner of your dashboard
- Complete the Fund criteria section — this is the only section you need to fill in to save a draft (see below for guidance on each field)
- Select Next
- Select Save as draft
Your fund will be saved and accessible from your dashboard whenever you’re ready to return to it.
Completing the fund criteria
The fund criteria determines which non-profits and projects will match with your fund. ActionFunder automatically matches projects based on location, focus area, beneficiary type, funding amount, and organisation type – so the criteria you set here shapes both the data you’ll see in draft and the applicants you’d attract if you go live.
As you build your criteria, you’ll see the local needs analysis update in real time for the area you’ve selected. The broader your criteria, the more projects will match. For social value or bid writing purposes, casting a wide net initially gives you the fullest picture of local need and community activity.
Here’s what each field means:
Catchment area — Define where you want to fund. Choose from UK wide, a mile-based radius around a postcode, a Local Authority area, or draw a bespoke boundary on the map. For social value bids, this is typically the contract area or the area where you’ll be delivering services.
Focus area — Select the themes that align with your social value commitments. These map to the Sustainable Development Goals. Projects only need to match one focus area to appear, but can match multiple. If you’re still exploring, selecting several focus areas will broaden your match data.
Beneficiary types — Choose from up to 13 beneficiary groups if your social value commitments target specific communities — for example, young people, older people, or those experiencing unemployment. Leave broad if you want to understand the full range of need in an area.
Non-profit types — Filter by type of organisation allowed to apply, including registered charities, community interest companies, and other non-profits. We recommend ticking all three when setting up a draft so you can see the widest range of potential delivery partners.
Fund amount — Set a total fund pot and a minimum and maximum grant size. For a draft, these can be indicative figures based on your social value budget or bid commitments. You can refine them later.
Fund name — Give your fund a name that reflects your organisation or the contract it’s tied to. This will be public-facing if the fund goes live, so keep it clear and relevant.
What you can do with a draft fund
Once your draft is saved, you can access a range of data to support your planning or bid writing.
View local needs analysis data
From within your draft fund, you can view local needs analysis data for your chosen area. This pulls together insight on community need relevant to your fund location, which can help you shape your criteria or evidence local need in a bid.
Download project and non-profit data
You can download data on projects that match your fund criteria. This gives you a picture of what community activity is already taking place in your area.
You can also download data on non-profits operating in your fund location. This is useful for understanding the local voluntary sector landscape and identifying potential delivery partners.
Need help?
If you have any questions, get in touch at customersuccess@actionfunder.org.