Impact and Funding: Why is it important to look at grants this way round?

At the inaugural Cheshire East VCFSE Alliance conference in October, CVSCE brought together delegates from across the voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise sector to network, collaborate and discuss important issues. These were split across the day into different lenses based on the Alliance principles: Strengthen, Connect and Champion. At the Strengthen session, we facilitated a set of conversations about grantmaking processes and how impact can be gathered.

We all agreed that the impact of our work is the critical part – we are seeking to make a difference to our communities through the transformation of individual and collective lives. Sometimes this is tangible, e.g. providing support for bereaved parents, or those fleeing domestic abuse. Other times, the difference is longer-term and less visible to us as delivery partners, e.g. ambitions for career development in a teenager who was on an addiction and offending behaviour cycle, or the ability of digitally excluded residents to get online and access a whole new world of information.

However, when it comes to developing applications for funding, we often revert back to a focus on the activities we will carry out. It is an understandable error to make – we need to complete application forms that ask us what we will do so they can monitor their spend. But, if we start with the difference we intend to make, we can track our successful activities against that measure and deliver some life-changing programmes.

We do know that the system currently doesn’t demonstrably support that – so we pulled together some viewpoints collected across the day in both Strengthen and Champion sessions to discuss what needs to change – and how we will support that change.

What do VCFSE organisations wish grant funders knew?

Funding Duration and Sustainability

VCFSE organisations felt that funding opportunities often focused on short-term projects, and that a 12-month project would be able to achieve limited outcomes. It is also common to see requests for “sustainability” of the work to be included in applications, which is extremely difficult to prioritise, especially when many grants are asking for new work only. There was a strong preference for 3–5-year funding commitments, both to achieve increased impact from the funded project but also to ensure a level of sustainability for the charity without seeking additional funding on an annual basis. Short-term funding can lead to high turnover and attrition, as staff are uncertain of their position as the funded period draws to a close, and timelines of 12 months or less can also result in delays due to the need to undertake recruitment. Groups were also concerned about sustaining the impact of projects beyond the funded period, with the end of short-term project funding often resulting in an abrupt cut-off of support for vulnerable beneficiaries.

CVSCE and the Alliance are committed to working with grantmakers willing to change their processes to include VCFSE Sector partner input BEFORE the terms of grants are established.

Funding Scope and Restrictions

A major issue for VCFSE organisations is the frequent exclusion of core infrastructure funding in grant eligibility criteria. Staffing costs and other support functions such as communications, management and facilities are crucial to the success of a funded project, but many funders explicitly exclude such costs from consideration. CVSCE advises VCFSE groups to adopt a full-cost recovery approach to budgeting in grant applications, but this needs to be reflected in funders’ approach to setting eligibility criteria to ensure that voluntary sector organisations are fully and sustainably funded for the full costs of their projects.

In addition, many funding opportunities explicitly state that funds are only available for new initiatives. VCFSE organisations felt that where a project had been proven to work well, there would be improved outcomes and impact for the funder by continuing an existing project rather than “starting from scratch” with a new project every year or two to tackle the same underlying social issue.

CVSCE and the Alliance are committed to showcasing the proven work and value of the VCFSE Sector to attract continued funding to existing projects.

Barriers in the Application Process

VCFSE groups emphasised the time pressures involved in applying for grants and noted that most charities do not employ a person dedicated to writing and managing bids. Delegates noted that there were multiple grant platforms with different requirements and levels of accessibility, which made applying for multiple grants more time-consuming. Delegates also noted administrative barriers such as having to complete a form in one sitting rather than being able to save the application and revisit; issues with restrictive word counts; and poor user interfaces on grant portals as barriers to applying for grants. VCFSE organisations felt that the level of effort and evidence required for a grant application should be commensurate with the size of the grant, and that many application processes for small pots of money required a disproportionate level of bureaucracy that would deter many from applying. There was an understanding that grantmakers need to be able to account for funding usage, and that the lack of accessible quality assurance in the sector was a challenge for all.

CVSCE and the Alliance are committed to working with partners to streamline and improve grantmaking processes, as well as supporting funded work to develop appropriate Quality Assurance processes.

Reporting and Evaluation

Similarly, VCFSE organisations felt that reporting requirements should be commensurate with the level of funding, with many perceiving their reporting requirements to be excessive and time-consuming. Some were unclear on funders’ expectations and would appreciate feedback on completed reports. Many felt that there was too much of a focus on demonstrating impact in a quantifiable way, and that often impact could not be demonstrated in the form of statistics or graphs. There is an added fiscal complication in that VAT does not apply to grants, but can apply to activity where there is a significant control from the funder as to the way grants are spent. It is recognised that everyone wants to focus on the activities that really work – this is a small part of a much wider process to ensure we are all doing the most impactful work.

CVSCE and the Alliance are committed to working with grantmakers to develop appropriate monitoring and evaluation models that recognise what works and how to scale.

CVSCE has recently invested in the Social Value Engine to capture some of the benefits brought to the community and economy by VCFSE Sector activities, and this is available at a cost to any VCFSE Sector organisation.

If you would like to have your services run through the Social Value Engine please get in touch with us at management@cvsce.org.uk

Collaboration and Relationships

VCFSE organisations recognise the value of collaborating to deliver services but require more support to do so effectively. Delegates viewed the VCFSE Alliance as a positive step towards more collaborative working, and more opportunities to build relationships with organisations with similar values and missions would be welcomed. VCFSE organisations want to work together but identified barriers in terms of:

• Uncertainty of who and how to approach
• The time required to build relationships and draft genuinely collaborative bids not aligning with often tight grant submission deadlines
• Concern regarding competition for funding

VCFSE groups would appreciate support from funders to link applicants together and encourage a spirit of collaboration rather than competition.

Organisations are not going to survive if they don’t think differently about how they’re going to access funding, which includes how they’re going to work with other organisations. There are different approaches to collaborative funding: organisations can manage collaboration directly, or they can be facilitated by an infrastructure organisation such as CVS.

CVSCE and the Alliance are committed to progressing conversations about a collaborative funding vehicle or process.

CVSCE has scheduled a meeting exclusively for VCFSE Sector organisations who deliver activity, not grantmakers or statutory services, on Thursday 9^th January at 10am to discuss. This meeting marks the start of a series of opportunities to engage with such explorations. There is no fixed direction of travel at this stage, and you don't need to have fully formed opinions (although these are also welcomed!) Please join us to share your own ideas in the discussion session below. Thursday 9th January, 10:00am – 11:30am. Register here.

What do the funders say?

We also facilitated a session for grant-makers at the VCFSE Alliance conference, and they had some helpful insight and tips for VCFSE organisations making grant applications.

The top tip was simple: answer the question! Funders had seen applications that were cut and pasted from previous applications, and did not align with the question being asked.

Other tips:

Don’t assume knowledge: even if the grant-maker has previously funded your organisation, make sure you include a compelling story for both why your project is needed, and why your organisation is best placed to deliver it. Make sure this case is aligned with the criteria and understand the priorities of the funder.

Describe the impact of the project: Impact is the difference your organisation makes to service users and the community as a whole, beyond the direct outputs and outcomes from projects. You need to know the problem your services are trying to address and the impact you will have before you can plan any services to achieve your goal. Impact is increasingly asked for in funding applications and you need to provide compelling evidence of your effectiveness and track record, giving funders confidence that their investment will achieve meaningful, measurable results.

Talk to the funder: Although you need to consider the priorities of the grant-making organisation and the purpose of the funds, funders were open to being told their priorities were wrong: they recognise that community organisations have an understanding of local needs and priorities, and most would be interested in discussing projects that doesn’t meet their criteria if you can demonstrate evidence that.

Use what’s been given: Linked to this, grant-makers encouraged groups to use the resources available in the pre-application stage: large funders like the National Lottery often have dedicated funding officers who can discuss your application and support you in writing your bid, and CVS offers training and bespoke support for organisations on grant applications.

Consider collaboration: Grant-makers are keen for VCFSE organisations to work in partnership, pooling resources and reducing duplication of initiatives. Whether your bid is collaborative or not, it is important that you have an understanding of other similar initiatives in the local area and how your proposal fits into this context.

CVSCE and the Alliance are committed to continued conversations with Funders to align their tips with your asks!

Further Support

CVSCE will continue to champion the needs of VCFSE organisations to grant-makers and funders, and encourage funders to work with us and the VCFSE Alliance to co-design grant processes that will work for applicants, grant recipients and beneficiaries. We also continue to offer support for VCFSE organisations wishing to apply for funding, including grant searches and application reviews, for a small fee.

View our current opportunities: https://www.cvsce.org.uk/funding_opportunities

View our training offer: https://www.cvsce.org.uk/training

Contact us: enquiries@cvsce.org.uk

Join the collaborative procurement open discussion on Thursday 9th January, 10:00am – 11:30am by registering here.