Bid writer, fundraising consultant or agency: which does your charity need?

A bid writer turns your project into an application. You bring the project, the budget and the evidence; they write it in the funder's own format and to its deadline, for the funders you choose.

A fundraising consultant looks at the whole of your income: where it comes from, where it could come from, and what your team can realistically do. They set out a plan. Some also coach your staff or cover a post for a while.

An agency, as we use the word in this guide, takes on the work itself, usually across several kinds of fundraising at once. It finds the funders, drafts the applications and appeals, and prepares the approaches to companies, then hands them to your team to approve and send.

Across the 20 firms we read:

• 14 list both bid writing and fundraising strategy.
• 4 list bid writing but no fundraising strategy.
• 2 list fundraising strategy but do not name bid writing.

Some firms write applications but offer no fundraising strategy, and some advise on strategy but do not say they write. Read the list of services, then ask for an example of each thing you intend to buy.

Search for a fundraising agency and you may meet 3 kinds of firm under the same name:

• Agencies that raise from the public for you, by street, door-to-door or telephone fundraising. They recruit donors on your behalf.
• Recruitment agencies that place fundraisers in your team, permanently or for a while.
• Agencies that prepare your fundraising work, such as applications, appeals and approaches to companies, for your team to send.

Say which kind you mean when you ask for quotes.

Before buying outside help, weigh a post of your own: a trust fundraiser, a part-time bid writer, or an interim.

• A post of your own builds knowledge that stays in your charity and relationships that funders see every year. It takes time to recruit, and it rests on 1 person.
• Outside help starts quickly and brings experience of many funders. It needs managing, and what it learns can leave with it unless you ask for the notes and the funder records.

You can also do both: a small team that owns the relationships, supported by outside help for the volume of work.

• A freelancer gives you 1 experienced person, working directly with you. Ask what happens if they are ill in the week before a deadline.
• A firm gives you cover and a range of skills. Ask who will actually do your work, and meet that person.

Of the 20 firms we read, 2 publish a price, and 1 of those prices is for public-sector tenders. Expect 1 of 3 ways of charging:

• A day rate. 1 consultancy's own guide puts day rates at "£250 to over £1,000 per day, often with VAT on top" (the consultancy's FAQ, a supplier's own figure).
• A fixed fee for a defined piece of work, such as 1 application or a strategy.
• A monthly retainer for ongoing work.

Ask what the fee covers: research, drafts, revisions, and a review of the funder's feedback if the bid fails. 2 quotes at the same day rate can buy very different amounts of work. Our guide to what a fundraising consultant costs sets out the published rates, VAT, and what a fundraiser of your own would cost instead.

• The Fundraising Regulator no longer sets rules on commission. Its Code of Fundraising Practice, in force since 1 November 2025, requires charities to give "appropriate consideration" to how they pay fundraisers and whether that fits their values (rule 2.4, as summarised by the Chartered Institute of Fundraising and Bates Wells, 4 November 2025).

• The consultants' association is firm with its members. Under the code of the Association of Fundraising Consultants and Freelancers, members' fees "will not be calculated as a percentage of the amount raised, either on a commission or contingency fee basis" (AFCF Code of Practice, clause 8, as published in February 2025). Not every consultant is a member, so ask.

If a supplier offers to work only for a share of what you raise, ask how they are paid when a bid fails, and check what your funders allow.

Read the grant agreement before you assume either way. Unrestricted income is yours to spend on any of your charity's purposes, fundraising included. A grant given for a project is tied to that project, so ask the funder before you use any of it to pay a supplier.

Outside help changes your team's work; it does not remove it. Whoever you hire, your team:

• Supplies the facts: the project plan, the budget, and the numbers on who you help and what changed for them.
• Makes the decisions: which funders to approach, what to ask for, what you will promise.

• Approves and sends: the application goes out in your charity's name, so someone in your team reads every line and stands behind it.
• Keeps the relationships: thanking the funder, reporting on time, inviting them to see the work.

Good outside help makes these steps shorter and leaves them with your team.

In our view, no supplier can promise you a grant, because the funder decides. Some make promises all the same: 1 of the 20 firms we read says it has "promised to raise new funds for charities, or return the balance of our fees" (its home page, 27 September 2026). If you are offered a promise, ask what exactly is refunded and when. The AFCF code asks its members to "neither guarantee results nor promise to raise sums that are unrealistic" (clause 2, as published in February 2025).

Judge a supplier on what you can check: work delivered on time, bids that fit each funder's stated priorities, and a clear record of what was sent and when. Some funders publish how long a decision takes; 1 large foundation currently gives 4 to 6 months (Garfield Weston Foundation FAQs). Ask the supplier to put each one in the plan, so your board knows when to expect answers.

The AFCF code asks members to work from a letter of appointment covering "the service to be provided; the duration of the service; the professional fee and related expenses to be charged; the method of payment, as well as arrangements for review and termination" (clause 7, as published in February 2025). Add 3 points of your own:

• The documents, research and funder contacts produced for you belong to your charity.
• Your information stays confidential (clause 9 of the same code) and is handled under UK data protection law.
• The supplier tells you if it works for a charity competing for the same funds (clause 10 asks members to avoid conflicts of interest).

Of 15 UK funders whose funding pages we read on 27 September 2026, 11 accept AI in applications: 8 without asking you to declare it, and 3 asking you to be open about where you used it. 2 of those 3, both research funders, also bar an application generated without human involvement. The other 4 publish nothing on it that we could find. Silence is not permission, so check each funder you apply to.

Ask any supplier 2 questions: who reads every word before it reaches you, and which companies see your charity's information along the way.

1. See an example of the exact thing you are buying: a finished application, a strategy, a campaign.
2. Meet the person who will do the work.
3. Call 2 references from charities of your size and cause.
4. Check their membership of a professional body, and whether they follow its code.
5. Get the terms in writing, including what happens if you part ways halfway through.