You can connect Fundin to Perplexity using MCP.
Once connected, Perplexity can search the grant database, check your matched grants, look at your campaigns and applications, and read your organisation profile, all from a normal thread.
This means you can ask Perplexity things like "find me grants for a youth project in Leeds" or "draft an application for XYZ fund" and it will pull live, accurate data from your Fundin account rather than guessing.
💡 What is MCP? MCP (Model Context Protocol) is what lets Perplexity securely connect to other apps and pull in real data. Think of it as giving Perplexity a key to your Fundin account so it can actually look things up, rather than just chatting.
⚠️ Before you start: Custom remote connectors on Perplexity currently require a Pro, Max or Enterprise plan. On Enterprise accounts, an admin also needs to have turned on "Allow members to add custom connectors" before you'll see the option — check with whoever manages your organisation's Perplexity if the steps below don't match what you see.
Setting it up
In Perplexity, click your profile icon (bottom-left), then go to Settings → Connectors
Click + Custom connector in the top-right corner
In the pop-up, select Remote
Copy these into the fields:
Field | Value |
Name |
|
MCP Server URL |
|
Authentication |
|
Tick the box confirming you understand the risks of custom connectors, then click Add
Fundin will now appear on the Connectors screen — click its card to start the authentication flow and enable it
Sign in and approve access — that's it, you're connected
💡 Tip: Start a new thread, click the + icon by the message box, and confirm Fundin is checked under Connectors and sources. Then ask "what grants do you have matched for me?" to confirm the connection is working before you build anything more complex.
Using Fundin in a thread
Connectors don't run automatically in every thread. Click the + icon next to the message box, open Connectors and sources, and make sure Fundin is checked before you ask your question.
Tool permissions
Perplexity will prompt for confirmation before running certain tool calls, depending on the action. Read-only actions, like searching grants or checking your readiness score, are lower risk than actions that create or change something, like updating a campaign or an application answer — it's worth reviewing those confirmations carefully while you're getting used to it.
What Perplexity can see
Once connected, Perplexity has access to your own Fundin account only, including:
The grant database and your matched grants
Your campaigns, applications and application answers
Your organisation profile and readiness score
Your outcome goals, estimated expenses and bid library documents
⚠️ Perplexity can only see data tied to your own organisation. It cannot see other organisations' data, and it cannot submit applications or make payments on your behalf.
What if something isn't working?
If Perplexity says it can't see your Fundin data, first check that Fundin is ticked under Connectors and sources for that thread — this can reset between threads. If the connection itself looks broken, go back to Settings → Connectors and check Fundin doesn't show an error tag; if it does, remove it and add it again, completing the authorisation without closing the tab early.
If that doesn't fix it, get in touch with us and we'll take a look.