For locally-led & community-based organisations
The system wasn't built to fund you. We're changing that.
You are closest to the communities you serve — yet humanitarian funding routes around you. This page does two things: it shows you, honestly, the maze the current system puts in your way, and it helps you get ready to win funding despite it.
Let's be clear about where we stand. The barriers below are not how things should be — they are how things are today, and we think they're unsuitable. Connect for Humanity exists to remove them: to make locally-led organisations visible, verifiable and directly fundable. Until that system is built, this guide helps you navigate the one that exists.
01
The state of the world we're changing
Four barriers stand between locally-led organisations and the funding meant to reach them. For each: what it is, what we're building to change it, and what helps you in the meantime.
1. Every funder re-vets you from scratch
What we're changing
Recognised, reusable vetting — verify once, be trusted by many. No more repeating the same due-diligence for every new partner.
What helps you now
Keep one complete due-diligence pack ready to send: registration, financial policy, safeguarding policy, latest accounts. Being ready in a day, not a month, wins grants.
2. Funding pays for projects, not for you
What we're changing
Quality funding — flexible, core-cost, multi-year money that lets you keep the lights on and respond to real needs, not just deliver a donor's project.
What helps you now
Always budget your true costs — staff, admin, overheads — and ask for them explicitly. Name your core costs; funders can't cover what you don't show.
3. Grants are short and tightly earmarked
What we're changing
Longer, more predictable funding so you can plan, retain staff and build — instead of lurching from one short grant to the next.
What helps you now
Track and document your results between grants. A clear record of outcomes is what turns a one-off grant into a renewed, multi-year relationship.
4. Funders can't find or verify you
What we're changing
A shared, trusted directory where funders can discover and verify locally-led organisations directly — so being small and local no longer means being invisible.
What helps you now
Build a simple, verifiable public profile (a one-page website is enough) and get listed wherever funders look — including our own endorsement wall, below.
02
Get funding-ready: the checklist
These are the documents and policies international funders look for. Having them ready — not perfect, just ready — removes most of the friction. Prepare them once and reuse them.
- 1Legal registration — proof your organisation is formally registered and able to receive grants.
- 2A one-page organisational profile — who you are, where you work, what you do, and who you serve.
- 3Financial records — a simple budget, and audited or independently reviewed accounts where possible.
- 4A financial-controls policy — how money is approved, spent and tracked.
- 5A safeguarding / child-protection policy — increasingly a condition of any funding.
- 6A track record — past projects, results and references from partners or communities.
- 7A verifiable online presence — a basic website or profile a funder can check.
03
Self-check: how funding-ready is your organisation?
Six quick questions. Get a readiness score and concrete next steps — no sign-up, nothing stored, all in your browser.
Please answer every question to see your score.
Connect for Humanity