Is Trust Fundraising Still a Good Investment in 2026?
It's a question I'm being asked more and more.
By charities considering trust fundraising for the first time. By organisations reviewing whether their existing programme is worth the investment. By fundraisers trying to make the case internally for why this income stream deserves proper time and resource.
I want to try and answer that question honestly because I think the sector deserves a straight answer rather than a glossy one.
Yes. But not in the way it used to be.
Trust fundraising has always been, for me, the bread and butter of any good fundraising strategy and my thoughts on that haven’t changed.
What has changed is what "bread and butter" looks like in practice.
For years, trust fundraising was treated as a gap filler. Income dropped somewhere else? Apply to more trusts. Target increased? Send out more applications. The assumption was that volume equalled income - that the more you put out, the more you'd get back.
That model is broken now, and the sector data proves it.
According to the 2025 Trusts and Foundations Insights Survey by Gifted Philanthropy, there is a clear drop-off in success rates and income raised after about 30 applications per year, which means you want those top 30 applications to really count and to be the most aligned prospects, that are as warm as possible.
Volume doesn’t work in trust fundraising anymore, but quality does.
What is the ROI of trust fundraising?
Let's start with the ROI numbers because I think they're more reassuring than many people expect.
According to LarkOwl's Fundraising ROI Report 2026, the return on investment for trust and foundation fundraising currently sits at £8.38 for every £1 spent. That's down from £9.20 in 2025 and £10.69 in 2021 - a trend worth acknowledging, it demonstrates how tough it is for trust fundraisers at the moment.
But here's the context that I think matters.
Compare that £8.38 to other income streams:
Major Donors: £5.00
Individual Giving: £6.04
Corporates: £5.01
Even in a tougher landscape, trust fundraising still delivers the strongest return on investment of any fundraising income stream. That's not nothing. That's an important number to have in your back pocket when you're making the case internally.
How have trust success rates changed?
The funder pool has contracted. England and Wales have lost a net 818 grant-making trusts and foundations since 2020 - a 4.2% contraction. Competition has intensified. AI tools have dramatically increased application volumes without a corresponding increase in grants available.
Success rates reflect that reality. The median success rate across UK funders sits at around 16% - 17% but those numbers mask enormous variation. Some funders have success rates below 9%. Others above 40%. Where you sit in that range depends enormously on how warm your relationships are and how well aligned your applications are – as well as the sector your organisation is operating in (arts, health, disability etc).
The Gifted Philanthropy data makes this particularly clear: warm and repeat applications have a 2.58 times greater success rate than cold ones and generate 1.72 times more income. That single statistic is the strongest possible argument for investing time in relationships and alignment rather than volume.
What does trust fundraising require in 2026?
If you're thinking about starting a trust fundraising programme or reviewing an existing one, here's what I'd want you to know going in.
It takes time. Not just to write applications but to research funders properly, build relationships, attend Meet the Funder events and develop the kind of pipeline that delivers sustainable income. According to the Gifted Philanthropy survey, charities between £300k and £1m in size that spent 20% - 30% of their time on research achieved a 44% success rate from cold funders - compared to 20% for those spending less time on research.
Time invested in research pays off but that time has to be protected, which requires realistic internal expectations.
The landscape has changed and targets need to reflect that. A cold pipeline returns around 1 in 10. A warm pipeline with strong alignment and relationship building changes those odds significantly but it takes time to build.
Trust Fundraising works best as part of a multi-stream strategy. Trust fundraising is brilliant, but it can no longer gap fill for income lost elsewhere. Organisations that expect trusts to be their primary or sole solution to funding gaps are going to find that increasingly difficult to sustain.
Another point to note, is that not all cause areas are equal in terms of the competition they face. Recreation charities face 31.3 competitors per funder. Armed Forces face just 2.9. Health, overseas aid and the arts are facing particular challenges as new funder formation in those areas has declined significantly versus the closures or funder changes those areas have seen. Knowing where your cause sits in that picture matters enormously for setting realistic expectations around income.
Should your charity invest in trust fundraising?
Absolutely yes! But with the right approach, the right expectations and the right investment of time and resource.
Trust fundraising done well - strategically, relationally, with a focus on quality over quantity - remains one of the most valuable income streams a charity can develop.
The ROI figures bear that out even in a tougher year but it needs to be treated like the skilled, relationship-led discipline it is. Not a quick win. Not a gap filler. Not something that can be done well on the side of three other roles without proper time and support.
If you're just starting out - go in with realistic expectations, invest in research and alignment from day one and think of it as a long-term strategy rather than an immediate solution.
If you're already doing it - use the data in this blog to have an honest internal conversation about what your programme can realistically deliver. Not hope-led targets. Evidence-led ones.
Talk to us about your trust fundraising
Money Tree Fundraising helps charities and hospices across the UK raise more from trusts, from strategy and pipeline building to one-to-one consultancy, training and mentoring. If you are starting a programme or reviewing one that has stalled, book a discovery call and we will look at it with you.