In October 2022, London Funders published research which explored how funders are responding to the cost of living crisis. Since then, we’ve continued to highlight approaches being taken, including on our online resource hub, through our Cost of Living week, and our Day of Action in November.
One of the issues we’ve been asked about is uplifts: are funders offering uplifts to their grantees, and if so, how is this being funded?
It is easy to see why uplifts are being seen as a key response to the crisis, with organisations facing increased costs, relating to staffing, utilities, operations, and service delivery. For long-term grants, many projected costs are now unrealistic for many, with some far exceeding original budgets. Uplifts can go some way to help mitigate the pressure this creates.
Our research earlier in the summer found that 13% of funders had already offered uplifts to their current grantees, both on current and multi-year grants.
A further 19% of respondents had said they were planning to offer uplifts to current grant holders for the remainder of the year, and a further 24% said they were planning to do so for multi-year grant holders.
To supplement this information, we’ve been asking members about the approach they are taking to uplifts. We’ve heard so far about some funders offering a percentage increase on grants, with others offering a one-off amount for all grantees (regardless of the length of grant remaining). Other funders have not offered uplifts for this financial year but are looking at ways to ensure future grants reflect costs accurately.
While we don’t have a comprehensive picture of how common uplifts are, here are some examples to help build a picture of how our members have approached this.
If you want to share the approach you’re taking, please get in touch
