Question Time with The Fore

The Fore intends to be a funder that genuinely supports the needs of small charities. We want to break down barriers and fund charities that have found it hard to access trust and foundation funding in the past.

We see applicants as experts in their own fields. We also know that many of the best people who run small charities don’t have lots of fundraising experience. Our approach is designed to level the playing field.

As our next funding round opens, we’re hosting an online Q&A. Eda Tajuddin, our Head of Programmes and Impact, and Ros Kirkland will be discussing our processes and answering your questions. Ros Kirkland is one of our Strategic Applicant Consultants, who help our charities present a case to funding panels on their behalf.

Don’t miss this opportunity to hear more from The Fore team and pose your own questions before you apply.

• Registrations for our Spring 2026 Funding Round will open at 12pm (midday) on Wednesday 26th November to 12pm (midday) on Wednesday 3rd December.
• Places on the round will be confirmed by email on Thursday, 4th December.
• Find out more, and take our eligibility quiz here.

About The Fore

The Fore turbo-charges exceptional small charities transforming lives and society. Since launching in 2017, we have distributed over £10m in grant funding and over13,000 hours of skills support to 633 small charities and social enterprises.

We offer unrestricted funding to help applicants grow, strengthen, become more efficient or resilient. We believe that by asking charities what they need, our grants can create a transformational impact.

We are particularly keen to hear from grassroots organisations working with underserved communities. We are proud to have been one of the first grant funders for many of our portfolio charities. Our charities are led by more disabled people, members of the LGBTQIA+ community and people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds than the rest of the sector.

About Ros Kirkland

Ros Kirkland has over 30 years’ experience in the non-profit sector. She spent 18 years with the Red Cross Movement, working on a broad portfolio of international development and humanitarian projects and spent over two years in field roles in East Asia. Over the past nine years, Ros has held senior roles at the Women’s Sport Trust, a start-up sports charity and Primary Care International, a small, dynamic, global-health focused social entreprise.

She is currently a Strategic Applicant Consultant for The Fore, a mentor on the Women in Leadership Programme run by the Humanitarian Leadership Academy and is mentoring an Oxford university student. She sits on the Steering Group for a social isolation project and volunteers in a community/homeless café in Oxford. Her expertise spans strategy development, project and partnership management, grant management, reporting, monitoring and evaluation and impact assessment.