Almost three in ten charities say their experiences applying for funding have worsened over the last three years, according to a survey published by the Institute for Voluntary Action Research (IVAR).

Its survey of 1,200 charities, which was carried earlier this year, found the words charities used to describe their funding experiences included “challenging, frustrating, exhausting, soul destroying” with practices they value the most, such as unrestricted funding, multi-year grants and meaningful feedback “remaining the rarest”.

The findings offer a “reminder that grant-making practices are not abstract. They affect − and can damage and diminish − people’s working lives”, says IVAR director Ben Cairns in a report revealing the survey findings, called Searching for Life Rafts.

Cairns adds that concerns around funding processes are “playing out against a backdrop of compounding pressures: increased competition for funding, rising costs, growing demand for services, and an operating environment that is pushing some of our best organisations to breaking point”.

One respondent said: “The amount of chopping and changing, strategic reviews, pauses, early closing is making a stressful situation even worse. ‘Unless you already move in certain circles, you don’t have a chance.”

Another said: “The irony is stark: as your chances of success decrease, the amount
of work required to apply has gone up.”

Despite concerns, progress has been made among some funders, IVAR found, with just over half of charities saying grant making as improved over the last year.

Charities with positive experiences of funding say that grant makers are “making their processes clearer, asking better questions, and are more willing to engage with charities before they apply”, he adds.

IVAR’s report urges more funders to adopt the principles of grant making movement ‘Open and Trusting’, which is aimed at making funding practices easier for grantees and those applying.

These principles are:

• Don’t waste time
• Ask relevant questions
• Accept risk
• Act with urgency
• Be open
• Be Flexible
• Communicate with purpose
• Be proportionate

Three in four survey respondents were chief executives, directors senior managers or staff fundraisers and more than half have at least a decade’s experience in fundraising. Around a fifth are based in London.

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