The Grant Every NGO Dreams About – And the Strategy That Actually Makes It Happen
By Edward Jengo
Unrestricted funding is not a myth. But it is not luck either. It is the deliberate outcome of a strategy most organisations never build.
Here is what that strategy actually looks like.
1. Earn trust before you ask for flexibility.
Unrestricted funding is a trust transaction – the highest form of funder confidence in your organisation. It is never given to strangers. Funders who write flexible checks have typically watched your organisation for months, sometimes years, before committing. Relationship-building is not a preamble to your fundraising strategy. It is the strategy.
2. Position your organisation, not just your programmes.
Most NGOs walk into funder conversations carrying project budgets. Organisations that secure unrestricted funding walk in carrying a compelling case for who they are – their leadership, their track record, their community roots, and their organisational trajectory. Restricted funders fund activities. Unrestricted funders fund organisations they believe in deeply. Know the difference and pitch accordingly.
3. Make your financial integrity impossible to ignore.
Clean audits, transparent reporting, a functioning board finance committee, and clear internal controls are not administrative requirements. They are the evidence base that makes a funder comfortable writing you a check with no conditions attached. Communicate your financial stewardship proactively – do not wait to be asked.
4. Show organisational health, not just program results.
Funders considering unrestricted support are asking one underlying question: is this organisation built to last? Answer it with evidence. Staff retention, leadership stability, local fundraising efforts, community trust, and governance quality all signal durability. Report on them consistently and openly.
5. Ask for it directly – and frame it as a program argument.
Most organisations never explicitly request unrestricted support. Ask clearly. Then explain precisely why flexibility makes your work stronger – faster response to community needs, ability to cover gaps between grants, capacity to test new approaches. Frame unrestricted funding as a programmatic strategy, not a financial convenience. Funders respond to mission logic, not organisational preference.
6. Demonstrate that you already manage complexity well.
Before a funder releases unrestricted capital, they want evidence that you handle existing resources responsibly. Deliver exceptional reporting on your current grants. Underpromise and overdeliver consistently. Every well-managed restricted grant is an audition for the unrestricted one that follows.
Unrestricted funding does not go to the most desperate organisations. It goes to the most trusted ones.
Build that trust – brick by brick, report by report, relationship by relationship.
(Edward Jengo is a Ugandan fundraising expert, and Chief Executive Officer of Bright Path Consult)
