More time for what you're here for.
Charities, community groups, CICs, clubs and not-for-profits run on a handful of processes that eat far more time than they should: the funder report, the grant pipeline, the volunteer rota, the records that live in three places. We find them, fix them with the people who do them, and hand them over so they keep working after we've gone. And we set up AI support that drafts funding bids in your own words, so you apply for more of what's out there.
Where the week goes
It's rarely one big job. It's the small ones that come round on a timer, done by hand, by the people you can least spare.
Every week
- Volunteer hours on paper, typed up by whoever has an evening free.
- The rota, redone when someone drops out.
Every month
- The trustee pack, built from four spreadsheets that don't quite agree.
- Session numbers counted by hand from the register.
Every quarter
- The funder return, three days to assemble from the records.
- The grant application written from scratch, again, when most of it was in last year's.
None of this is anyone's fault. It's what happens when a small team grows a service faster than the admin behind it. A coordinator who spends a day a week on returns is a coordinator who sees fewer people. Fixing the admin isn't a diversion from the mission; it's time handed back to it.
What we build for charities
Funder reporting that produces itself
One place for the records you already keep, and a report for each funder that fills itself in from them. Outcomes against targets, spend against budget, the numbers the trustees want, all from the same rows. The quarterly return becomes an afternoon, and it's the same afternoon every quarter.
Grant and funding trackers
Every application in one sheet: who, how much, what stage, what's next, when it's due. The deadlines sort themselves, the awarded money shows what's spent and what's left, and the board sees the whole pipeline on one tab. Nothing lives in an inbox any more.
Volunteer and rota tools
Hours logged once, by the volunteer or the coordinator, and totalled by month, project and funder without anyone adding them up. Rotas that everyone can see on a phone, with the gaps showing themselves.
Built in Excel or Google Sheets, so nobody learns new software and nobody pays for a licence.
A grant tracker, for example
One sheet for every application, and six tabs that read from it: the pipeline, a board for the trustees, the deadlines in order, the money that's landed, the year ahead and a checklist for each bid.
Click the tabs. Everything you see comes from one row per application; nobody fills in a second sheet.
| Funder | Asking | Stage | Next |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wold Valley Community Fund | £24,000 | Writing | Budget by Fri |
| Saltgrass Trust | £8,500 | Submitted | Decision 2 Nov |
| Council small grants | £3,000 | Eligibility | Check turnover limit |
| Harrowden Foundation | £40,000 | Writing | Trustee sign-off |
| Fennel Street Arts | £12,000 | Submitted | Interview 9 Nov |
| In the pipeline | £87,500 | 5 applications | |
| What | When | Days |
|---|---|---|
| Wold Valley Community Fund: budget to trustees | Fri 10 Oct | 2 |
| Harrowden Foundation: submit | Mon 27 Oct | 19 |
| County community foundation: Q2 report due | Fri 31 Oct | 23 |
| Saltgrass Trust: decision expected | Sun 2 Nov | 25 |
| Fennel Street Arts: interview | Sun 9 Nov | 32 |
| Wold Valley Community Fund: submit | Fri 28 Nov | 51 |
| Funder | Awarded | Spent | Report |
|---|---|---|---|
| County community fdn | £15,000 | 62% | 31 Oct |
| Harrowden Giving | £6,000 | Done | Sent |
| Lantern Row Players | £9,800 | 18% | Mar |
| Town rotary club | £1,500 | Done | Sent |
| This year | £32,300 | £11,900 still to spend | |
- Eligibility checked
- Outcomes and how we'll measure them
- Budget (due Fri)
- Trustee sign-off, then submit
- Expression of interest accepted
- Partner letter of support
- Three-year budget
- Trustee sign-off, then submit
An example of the kind of tool we build. Funders and figures are invented.
Win more funding, in your own words
Applying for funding takes real time. One study estimated that small charities spend around 38% of the grant income they win on the work of applying for it. The forms are long, the questions repeat, and the answers already exist somewhere: in last year's bid, the impact report, the annual review, the trustees' minutes.
We set up AI support around exactly that material. Your past applications, your outcomes, your policies, the way you describe the people you work with. Then, when a funder asks "how will you measure the difference this makes?", it drafts an answer from what you've already written, in your voice, with your numbers. The grants officer edits it, checks it, and sends it. Applications take less time, and the ones you didn't have time for get written.
It doesn't invent outcomes, and it doesn't send anything. It's a fast first draft from your own words, for a person to finish. We show the team what it's good at, what it isn't, and how to check its work.
What it works from
- Past applications, successful and not
- Impact and annual reports
- Case studies and quotes you have permission to use
- Policies the funder will ask about
- Your budget and your numbers
What it gives back
- A first draft of each answer, in your language
- The right evidence pulled to the right question
- Consistent figures across every application
- Time to apply for the funding you've been missing
Set up on a tool your charity already pays for or can get free, in your own account, with your own data. Nothing goes to us.
An example. The funder, the figures and the wording are invented.
The charity rate
Registered charities, CICs, community groups, clubs and other not-for-profits pay a charity rate on every project and engagement. Same discovery, same build, same handover and 30 days of support, at a price that reflects the budgets involved.
Projects
One process, fixed end to end, with a finish date agreed after discovery. Usually remote. A funder report, a grant tracker, a volunteer log.
Larger engagements
Several processes, delivered in stages, on site when it helps. Usually where the records, the reporting and the funding all need untangling together.
Every price is fixed before work starts, and there are no ongoing fees from us. We build the tool, train your team and leave. If you'd like us back for something new, that's a choice you'll make, not a condition we've set. You'll never need us just to keep it working.
Common questions from charities
- Do you work with groups that aren't registered charities?
- Yes. CICs, community groups, clubs and other not-for-profits get the same service and the same charity rate. If you run on goodwill and a tight budget, the rate is for you.
- Will funders know a bid was written with AI?
- They'll see an application in your voice with your evidence, because that's what it is. The person who knows your work writes the final version; the tool saves them the blank page.
- Is our data safe?
- The tool runs in your own account, set up so your documents stay yours. Nothing goes to us. We'll tell you exactly which tool, what it does with your data, and what it costs (often nothing) in discovery.
- Can a funder see the reporting tool?
- If you'd like them to. Most funders are happy with the report it produces; some like to see where the numbers come from, and the tool is built so that's easy to show.
- Do we need an IT person?
- No. We build in Excel or Google Sheets, which you already have, and we explain everything as we go. Your team is shown how it works and owns it at the end.
What's taking up your team's time?
Tell us the process that takes the most time or causes the most frustration. We'll come back with an honest view of whether we can help, and if we can't, we'll say so.
Or email info@purt.co.uk
01482 738442