The Quilter Foundation
At The Quilter Foundation, it is our mission to create brighter futures for the next generation. By partnering with charities that address financial education, social mobility, food insecurity and more, we aim to empower children, young people and families to reach their full potential. Through our funding, engagement and unique partnerships, we focus on delivering meaningful, lasting impact where it is needed most.
Overview
Total reviews: 4
Median 7.5 hours
Latest Reviews
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Jul 27, 2026
Funded for amount requested - applied in 2025
The Quilter Foundation team are approachable, communicative and open. They ask you submit a video as part of the application process
Pros
Positive leader in the field
Gives more than money
Insightful
Friendly
Builds relationships
Understands nonprofits and issues
Openminded
Responsive
Cons
Pros
Cons
What is your relationship with the funder for this experience?
Current or former grantee
If you were funded tell us the outcome
Funded for amount requested
What year was this experience?
2025
How would you rate this funder's accessibility?
Excellent
How successfully do you think this funder is accomplishing its goals as a funder?
Excellent
Tell us one thing that this funder does really well
Open to changes of the grant process, willing to learn from charities, they have a charity network and provide more than just financial support
How was your relationship overall with the funder?
Excellent
Reply from Jenni Piper - Head of The Quilter Foundation
Jul 29, 2026
Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback on The Quilter Foundation. We are delighted to hear that you found the team open, communicative and approachable throughout the application process. We also appreciate your comments regarding the video submission element. For future applications, it is worth noting that the video is entirely optional and not a requirement. We introduced this as an alternative way for applicants to share their story and bring their work to life, while recognising that not all organisations have the time or resources to produce a video. Our aim is to provide flexibility and avoid placing any additional burden on charities applying for funding.
Jul 22, 2026
applied in 2026
high value charity request for £1,000 turned down on application which was disapointing
Pros
Positive leader in the field
Cons
Pros
Cons
What is your relationship with the funder for this experience?
Applied and not funded
If you were funded tell us the outcome
What year was this experience?
2026
How would you rate this funder's accessibility?
Average
How successfully do you think this funder is accomplishing its goals as a funder?
Poor
If you had one piece of advice to give to this funder (about grantmaking or anything else), what would it be?
wording of the letter rejecting the funds was not as well worded
How was your relationship overall with the funder?
Average
Is there anything else that's be useful for others to know to understand this funder?
offer the chance to reapply
Reply from Jenni Piper - Head of The Quilter Foundation
Jul 29, 2026
Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback on The Quilter Foundation's Brighter Together Fund. We are sorry to hear that your experience did not meet your expectations. We encourage organisations to reapply after six months and to support those future applications, we offer all unsuccessful applicants the opportunity to receive either a feedback call or written feedback. We hope this helps organisations strengthen any future application and submit the best possible case for support.
Jul 22, 2026
applied in 2026
You work really hard to try and get a nomination just so that you can apply, and then repeatedly get turned down. No feedback so you have no idea how to best try again.
What is your relationship with the funder for this experience?
Applied and not funded
If you were funded tell us the outcome
What year was this experience?
2026
How would you rate this funder's accessibility?
Poor
The employee nomination is exclusionary and poor practice - a waste of charities time to just try and get to be able to apply. The webinar is helpful, but in reality that just takes up even more of a charities time on top of scoping the application as carefully as we can.
How successfully do you think this funder is accomplishing its goals as a funder?
Poor
Tell us one thing that this funder does really well
Meaningful employee engagement - beyond just wanting a fun day out for your staff to volunteer to paint some walls.
If you had one piece of advice to give to this funder (about grantmaking or anything else), what would it be?
Funnily enough, drop the employee nomination. You already have brilliantly meaningful ways in which the employees become engaged in the charities.
Reply from Jenni Piper - Head of The Quilter Foundation
Jul 29, 2026
Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback on The Quilter Foundation's Brighter Together Fund. We are sorry to hear that your experience did not meet your expectations. Feedback is offered to all applicants as part of our decision communications, either by email or through a follow-up call. If you would like to discuss your application in more detail, please do contact the team and we would be pleased to arrange a feedback conversation. We also appreciate your comments regarding our employee nomination process. The Brighter Together Fund is funded entirely through fundraising activities undertaken by Quilter employees and advisers. The nomination approach is designed to ensure that the organisations receiving support are those with a meaningful connection to the individuals who have helped raise these funds. This helps us maintain engagement with our fundraising community and direct support towards causes that are important to them. In addition, we use the nomination process to manage demand for the fund. Unfortunately, we receive more requests for support than we are able to fund, and a broader open application process would increase this imbalance further. While we recognise that this approach means some worthy organisations are unable to apply, it enables us to focus our resources effectively and maximise the impact of the funds available. We value all feedback and use it to review and improve our processes wherever possible. Thank you again for taking the time to share your views.
May 6, 2026
Funded for amount requested - applied in 2026
Listen carefully to what is said in the pre-application meeting including about how applications are assessed. They give pointers which were really useful.
They also say they are open to conversations / answering questions. This felt like a genuine offer.
Pros
Positive leader in the field
Gives more than money
Insightful
Friendly
Builds relationships
Responsive
Cons
Pros
Cons
What is your relationship with the funder for this experience?
Current or former grantee
If you were funded tell us the outcome
Funded for amount requested
What year was this experience?
2026
How would you rate this funder's accessibility?
Excellent
Very easy and clear. We were lucky to be successful, but unsuccessful applicants get detailed feedback which would be so helpful.
How successfully do you think this funder is accomplishing its goals as a funder?
Excellent
It is not just about grant giving, but it is much more about a partnership.
Tell us one thing that this funder does really well
Communicate well with both successful and unsuccessful applicants.
If you had one piece of advice to give to this funder (about grantmaking or anything else), what would it be?
Not to change their communication
How was your relationship overall with the funder?
Excellent
Is there anything else that's be useful for others to know to understand this funder?
That you need to be nominated by a member of their staff to be eligible.
Reply from Jenni Piper - The Quilter Foundation
Jul 29, 2026
Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. We are delighted to hear that you found the pre-application webinar beneficial and that it helped you to develop a successful application. We look forward to working with you throughout our partnership and supporting your organisation to achieve meaningful impact.
Nov 3, 2025
Funded for lesser amount - applied in 2025
Get to know the people involved in the Foundation, meet them, invite them to see your cause and discuss with them the best ways of working together....they want to help and support good work and can give good advice.
Attend the preapplication webinar, it's very open and clear about the best applications.
Utilise the Quilter Foundation Charity Network events, share volunteering opportunities and build a relationship with the team - you'll get much more out of this relationship if you do.
Pros
Positive leader in the field
Friendly
Builds relationships
Likes site visits
Understands nonprofits and issues
Responsive
Cons
Pros
Cons
What is your relationship with the funder for this experience?
Current or former grantee
If you were funded tell us the outcome
Funded for lesser amount
What year was this experience?
2025
How would you rate this funder's accessibility?
Excellent
They also listen to feedback and review their processes.
How successfully do you think this funder is accomplishing its goals as a funder?
Excellent
Tell us one thing that this funder does really well
Gets to know the causes they support.
If you had one piece of advice to give to this funder (about grantmaking or anything else), what would it be?
Set expectations about how many causes you can fund each quarter and how much is usually granted, then those applying know what level to ask for.
How was your relationship overall with the funder?
Excellent
Reply from Jenni Piper - Head of The Quilter Foundation
Jul 29, 2026
Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback on The Quilter Foundation. We are pleased to hear that you found the pre-application webinar helpful. The webinars were introduced in direct response to feedback from our charity partners, who told us that additional guidance before applying would be valuable. It is encouraging to know that this support helped you through the application process. Thank you also for your suggestion regarding the publication of information on the number of grants awarded in each funding round. We appreciate this feedback and will explore how we can share more historical funding data through future pre-application webinars and applicant guidance to help organisations better understand the level of demand for our funding programmes.