Post-Graduate Funding

For Staff: Evaluate the Alternative Guide for your University!

Nearly 100 universities in the UK invest in the Alternative Guide as a resource to support their current and prospective students. Sometimes the license is held at the Doctoral/Graduate School, sometimes at the Funding Office/Careers Service, somethings with Recruitment/Marketing, and sometimes with Libraries.

If your university is not amongst our our subscribers we invite you to consider a free no obligation evaluation of the Alternative Guide. Please email enquiries@gradfunding.co.uk to request one, and we will also give you a quotation, subscription, and access information.

So what is the Alternative Guide? Why should we invest in it for our students?

Supporting current and prospective students with postgraduate funding has long been a challenge for universities. Fees continue to rise more quickly than scholarships, and the postgraduate loans system provides only around half the money a student needs, and are in any case only available to UK students. The Postgraduate Finance landscape is more challenging- students are deterred from starting expensive courses, and more likely to drop out of them after they've taken up their places. Demand for alternative funding—whether to top up existing support or finance an entire course—has never been higher.

The Alternative Guide focuses on a major but underused source of postgraduate funding: the voluntary sector. The UK’s thousands of charities, trusts, and foundations represent a substantial yet largely untapped resource. Historically, very few postgraduates applied to these funders. The Alternative Guide is changing that. It is the first and only comprehensive resource dedicated to postgraduate funding from charities and other non-traditional sources.

As former self-funded postgraduate students, we (the authors) raised over £65,000 from more than 50 charity awards. The Alternative Guide distils this experience into detailed, practical advice. The online platform provides interactive tools to simplify the application process, alongside a database of over 1,000 charitable funders—with new entries added each month. Its integrated workflow leads students step by step from identifying opportunities to preparing strong, targeted applications.

If you would like to help more of your students access charitable funding and significantly improve their chances of success, consider joining the nearly 100 universities that already subscribe to the Alternative Guide..

Charities and Trusts: An underrated, but vital funding resource

The UK voluntary sector distributes billions of pounds each year across a wide range of charitable causes. Yet this substantial funding pool has historically been underused by students. Much of it is tied up in long-established trust funds—often obscure, poorly publicised, and not listed online. Prior to the publication of the Alternative Guide, there was no dedicated advisory resource to help students navigate this landscape.

Charitable funders differ fundamentally from public bodies. Their awards are often shaped by factors such as an applicant’s place of residence, family background, nationality, gender, or field of study. Above all, charities look for a compelling personal narrative—how a student’s course aligns with their goals, ambitions, and potential to contribute to society. Their funding cycles also operate differently: many have multiple deadlines each year, short decision times, and award amounts typically ranging from £500 to £2,000. Crucially, applicants can secure multiple awards; our lead author won over forty.

These distinctions mean that charity applications require a completely different strategy and presentation from conventional funding bids. It is precisely this specialist guidance—far beyond a simple database or search tool—that makes the Alternative Guide both unique and indispensable.

Do we really need it?

Universities often assume that existing resources already cover postgraduate funding from charities. We respectfully disagree. While tools such as ResearchProfessional do exist, they are designed primarily for postdoctoral researchers and focus on well-known, heavily used funding sources such as learned societies and public bodies. Free databases (like Postgraduate Studentships and FindaPhD) presents similar limitations, listing many awards administered by individual universities—funding that is inaccessible to students elsewhere. These platforms almost entirely overlook the more obscure but richly resourced world of charitable trusts. Most importantly, these tools function solely as databases; they offer little to no guidance on how to apply effectively. The Alternative Guide is not just a search tool—it is a complete, field-tested methodology created and used by real students.

The Alternative Guide now has nearly 100 university subscribers precisely because it occupies this unique and neglected niche. As a grassroots publication built from direct student experience, it offers practical, hard-won strategies that have been repeatedly proven in real applications. Our Student Story Archive showcases successful fundraising journeys from students who secured support from charities they had never previously heard of.

The Alternative Guide Online contains a database of nearly 1,000 charities—updated monthly—compiled through extensive research and, in many cases, direct engagement with funders. This resource alone can be worth tens of thousands of pounds to your current and prospective postgraduate students.

Evaluate the Alternative Guide to Postgraduate Funding!

Interested in evaluating the Guide? Please get in touch by emailing enquiries@gradfunding.co.uk and ask us for a free no-obligation evaluation and quotation!