The small but mighty tools hiding in your Fundsorter workflow
Kia ora Fundsorter community - Bonnie here.
One of the joys of supporting Fundsorter users is the moment someone says, "Wait - it does that?" It happens almost every week. We’re all used to the funding process feeling impossible, so we don’t expect solutions anymore. This post is going to be all about the solutions we’ve worked into our platform. The tools that make the process easier, waiting inside your workflow.
The Brainstormer
The single feature users tell me changed everything for them is the Brainstormer - officially called "Help me create a request" It’s sitting next to Add A Funding Request on the Find Funding page.
This brilliant tool was part of our recent V2 release. It flips the direction of grant writing. Instead of "we've got this project, who'll fund it?" it becomes "what could we get funded right now, and how do we shape it to fit?" For organisations whose kaupapa stretches across a hundred possibilities, that reframe is a relief, and the most consistent aha moment I see in onboarding.
The tool looks across your Organisation Profile, compares it against our database of thousands of opportunities, and then develops fundable ideas by how well they line up with real, current opportunities. You pick one that excites you, tell the system why, and Fundsorter drafts a Funding Request tightly aligned to specific opportunities.
That same brainstorming power flows into your manual Funding Requests, too. If our system detects that your phrasing could use some polishing, before you scan, it will nudge your wording toward the kinds of phrases funders are actually looking for. Small wording shifts, real difference in matches.
Worth knowing: annual subscribers get unlimited idea generation, so you can keep aligning your mahi with new funding all year round.
Organising your matches
When a scan completes, the temptation is to skim. Instead, analyse and organise your matches first. There's a small process inside every match that turns skimming into a strategy read, before you draft a single application.
Click "How we matched" on any result. It explains why Fundsorter surfaced this funder; the alignment factors, the timing, and includes a sub-section called "Things you want to address in your application." This section is always my first step. It tells you exactly where the alignment between your kaupapa and the funder's is, which priorities are currently a bit fuzzy, and what you should clarify in your application. Often it surfaces something you're already doing but haven't said clearly enough in your Funding Request. If this is the case, do a quick edit of your funding request to include the information, re-scan, and you'll see your matches sharpen up.
Then click "Learn more about the funder." It sits right alongside "How we matched" on every match row. This is where you find the funder's purpose, their stated priorities, criteria, exclusions, and a direct link out to the funder's own opportunity page. This tab is where you'll catch the things that quietly disqualify a draft before you've spent two hours on it. It’s where you'll spot the priorities to lean into, whether that's women, Māori, rangatahi, regenerative work, or heritage.
Then star the keepers. The star icon floats your favourites to the top of your list. Once you've done the strategic reading on a match, the star saves that thinking - no spreadsheet, no parallel doc, just a clean way to organise the matches you actually want to come back to.
Helping us improve
Every match has a thumbs up and thumbs down button at the edge.
Thumbs up on a good match tells our database and support team this kind of fit is working. We use it to weigh similar funders higher for organisations like yours. Thumbs down will remove the match from your results and prompt a quick feedback note. This feedback goes straight to the team to improve the algorithm and the database entry. The more orgs like yours that teach the system what a good match looks like, the better the matches get for the next org in your sector.
Occasionally we'll reach back out about a match that’s been thumbed down, usually because we have noticed something worth reconsidering.
When timing is the decider
So much frustration in this sector comes with timing. The next round opens after the event has already happened, or a funder you'd been waiting for goes quiet for six months. There are a few features designed specifically to take this concern off the table entirely.
Every scan returns matches in three groups: Open Now (you can apply today), Opening Soon (rounds opening in the next three months), and Relational (funders who don't run rounds at all - they take direct contact, and the system drafts you an introduction letter). Almost any timeline you're working to will fit one of those three groupings.
For anything in Opening Soon, click the bell icon on the match. Fundsorter will email you when that opportunity opens, so you don't have to hold a calendar of funder dates in your head. The system does it for you and pings you when it's time to act.
For rounds that are winding down, you'll see a "Closing Soon" tag on the match. That's to help you prioritise at-a-glance. If the opportunity is a good fit, that's your cue to "do this one first".
One quiet perk worth mentioning: most users see about three months of forward funding visibility. Annual subscribers see twelve. If you plan in financial-year cycles, the 12-month view is what lets you map a full year of funding moves up front, rather than reacting three months at a time.
When you've got more than one application on the go
We know the struggle of trying to organise all your documents in one place, so we’ve made it simple in two ways:
First, your Funding Requests are always editable. Every request you've created can be updated as your project, budget, or timeline shifts. Once you've saved your edits, re-scan and the system surfaces new matches against the updated brief. This allows your funding requests to evolve through the year as your needs do.
Second, the Applications dashboard is your one-stop funding organiser. You'll find it in the main navigation as Applications. There's a row for each Funding Request, showing how many applications you've drafted for it, the breakdown across Draft, Submitted, Successful, and Unsuccessful, and the funds you've sorted against your target.
Inside that dashboard, a few small moves carry a lot of weight. You can assign an owner so your team knows whose name sits on each application, which is useful the moment more than one person is in the system. You can share notes via the pencil icon on each application; a funder's contact name, a summary from a phone call, or a flag about a specific submission requirement. It's your team's internal shared memory. When an application status is marked Successful, you'll be prompted to enter the amount granted, which flows straight into your Funds Sorted total on the dashboard.
It's where the spreadsheet, calendar, Drive folder, and WhatsApp thread you used to keep, all live in one place.
The cheat sheet, in five moments
Starting a funding request — open the Brainstormer for fundable ideas drawn from current opportunities.
Reading your matches — click "How we matched" (especially the "things to address" sub-panel), then "Learn more about the funder", then star the keepers.
Watching the calendar — set bell reminders on opening soon opportunities, prioritise Closing Soon tags, and (if you're annual) plan a full 12 months ahead.
Running more than one application — your Funding Requests are editable any time, and the Applications dashboard is where you assign owners, share notes, and mark applications successful.
Helping the system improve — use thumbs up / thumbs down. It really does feed back to our team.
Honourable mentions
Two more tools that’s value shouldn’t be overlooked; Speech-to-text lets you talk straight into the platform. For organisations who know their kaupapa inside out but haven't written it all down, this one’s for you. Your words go directly into matches and drafts. And your application drafts learn as you edit them. Every correction teaches the system to sound more like you next time.
Is there a corner of the platform you'd like a future cheat sheet on? Send me a suggestion at [email protected].
Happy funding!
Ngā mihi nui, Bonnie & the Fundsorter team