Rising demand: getting beneath the headlines

The pressures facing charities are well documented. Research from CAF only last week found that 86% of charities say that demand has increased, and almost all (88%) expect it to continue to rise. Some reports have pointed to the potential impact of cuts in statutory provisions and funding, leading to charities having to fill the gap and depend largely on philanthropic funding instead. We’ve seen evidence about the knock on of this - the same CAF survey found 50% charities report increased competition for funding from grants and donations.   

We’d like to get under the skin of these headlines and understand how funders are reacting to changes in the sector. For example, some members have told us that their total ‘grant pot’ has reduced drastically due to the poor performance of investments. Others have maintained their levels of previous funding but are now doing larger, fewer grants– inevitably this means fewer organisations will get successful outcomes to their applications.    

We would also like to understand the changes adopted by funders to help manage demand. We already know that civil society spends £900m on fundraising each year: nobody wants to see this level of resource being spent on applying for funds, especially if increased competition makes a positive outcome less likely.   

Over the next few months we will be bringing together funders to understand how applications and demand from funded organisations is changing and effective strategies to adapt to this. To help facilitate this, we’re asking members to answer this quick survey, so we can better understand the current situation, and what’s on the horizon. Any practical examples you’re able to share will be collated and shared back out with our networks. Please take a look and share what you can by 8th November. If you wish to fill out this survey in a different format please reach out to our Research & Evidence Manager, Shreya Gautam.    

Access the survey here.