How to check if your NGO is eligible for a grant

Eligibility rules decide whether your proposal is read at all. A strong idea from an ineligible organisation is rejected at the administrative check, usually without feedback. Reading these rules first, and honestly, is the fastest way to save time. This guide gives a checklist you can apply to any call in a few minutes.

Find the right section

Calls put the rules in different places: "Eligibility of applicants", "Who can apply", "Admissibility", or an annex of guidelines. The summary on a funding website, including ours, is a starting point, not the rule. Always open the donor's own documents and read the full section, including footnotes.

The checklist

1. Type of organisation. Does the call accept your legal form? Terms such as "non-profit organisation", "civil society organisation", "community-based organisation" or "non-governmental organisation" may have specific meanings in the call. Some calls exclude faith-based organisations from certain activities, or accept only organisations registered for a minimum number of years.
2. Registration and location. Must the applicant be registered in a particular country, or in the donor's country? Many calls are open only to organisations established in the country where the project takes place, while others are open only to organisations from the donor's country. A call that says nothing on this point is not automatically open to everyone; check the general rules of the programme.
3. Where the work happens. Check the list of target countries or regions. "Sub-Saharan Africa" or "least developed countries" are defined lists; confirm that your country is on them.
4. Size and track record. Some calls set a minimum annual budget, ask for experience with grants of a certain size, or require audited accounts. A common rule is that the grant requested may not exceed a stated share of the applicant's average annual income. Compare these conditions with your real figures.
5. Grant size and co-financing. Can you work within the minimum and maximum amounts? If the donor pays only part of the costs, can you secure the rest, in cash or in kind as the call allows?
6. Partnership requirements. Some calls require a consortium, a local partner, or a lead applicant from a particular country. If you would be a co-applicant, check the rules for co-applicants separately.
7. Thematic fit. Do your planned activities match the call's priorities and its list of eligible actions? Activities outside that list are usually not funded, even if the theme matches.
8. Eligible costs. Some schemes do not fund salaries, running costs, equipment above a limit, or activities that started before the contract. Check before you design the budget.
9. Legal permissions. In some countries an organisation needs government permission to receive foreign funds, for example registration under India's Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act. If yours does, confirm that you hold it.
10. Registrations and documents. Note any registration the donor needs before submission, such as an EU Participant Identification Code or a U.S. Unique Entity ID, and the documents to attach. Registrations can take weeks.
11. Deadline and language. Note the exact time and time zone, the submission channel and the language of the application.

When the rules are unclear

If a condition can be read two ways, write to the contact address in the call and ask, quoting the paragraph. Many donors publish a list of questions and answers before the deadline; read it, because answers to other applicants' questions often settle yours. Keep the answer you receive with your application file.

Do not stretch the facts to fit a call. Donors verify registration documents and accounts, and a misrepresentation can exclude your organisation from future calls as well.

Keep a short eligibility record

For each call you consider, write one line per checklist item: "yes", "no" or "to check". A single "no" on a mandatory condition ends the review. Over time this record shows which kinds of calls fit you, and which conditions you could meet next year, for example by completing an audit or registering with a portal.

Let the screening do the first pass

FundingCalls can run this first pass for you. Create a free profile with your organisation's legal form, country, themes, budget band and permissions, and each open call gets a verdict, "eligible", "check" or "not eligible", with the reasons and the points that are still unclear. Treat it as a filter that tells you which calls deserve a full reading, not as a replacement for reading the call.

Then browse the calls for your country, the embassy small grants and the calls closing soon, and start with those that pass every point on the list.