Short term versus long term: a necessary balance

There is a big question in the funding world on how to approach grant making - whether we should prioritise the big issues happening right now or whether to focus on future resilience.  While these might feel like two very different needs, we think funders should be approaching both head on. 

Immediate crisis relief

In recent years, the UK has been experiencing its worst fall in living standards since records began, with rampant inflation, increasing unemployment and an acute drop in household spending power.  Urgent support is now crucial for the smaller charities and community groups trying to stay afloat while meeting a shrinking donor pool and ever-growing rise in demand.

To make a short-term meaningful impact on frontline services, funders need to make programmes more flexible and accessible to smaller charities.  Today’s urgency of unrestricted financial help means funders must be more trusting with grants, distributing money where it is vitally needed.

Winter appeals and resilience funds, delivered by many community foundations, do just this. Money raised is distributed into community services that need it.  Resources are put into food banks, warm spaces, debt advice lines, mental health groups, crisis support charities, community hubs and many other services that people rely on.

Cross-sector collaboration is essential in the emergency phase of a national crisis.  UKCF knows from its work during the coronavirus pandemic that to get to a recovery phase, as much support as possible must be injected into communities early on.  UKCF did this in partnership with the National Emergencies Trust at the start of the national lockdowns and adapted its funding to synchronise with the emerging needs of communities.

Since then, community foundations have worked with the National Emergencies Trust to support communities in times of crisis, such as the Southport attack, regional flooding, riots, storm damage and other emergencies.

Longer-term community resilience

How will society recover after the cost-of-living crisis and future crises?  Was Covid-19 a one-off?  How can communities build resilience to tackle environmental challenges?

In order to progress local infrastructures and learn more about what type of grant making works, funders must make bold moves to plan longer-term explorative grant programmes. 

Multi-year programmes empower charities and community groups to explore new ways of working, expand their services and provide stronger platforms for communities to thrive from, learning what works over time.  UKCF's five-year Care Leavers Programme is enabling funded organisations to progress in the ways they need to, collaborating across sectors to identify solutions together with the care leavers they are supporting.

Funding the development of future leaders is another way that funders can invest in stronger infrastructures that support people with various lived experiences and embed diverse and creative thinking across the sector.  UKCF is working with Clore Leadership to grow leadership skills with members in our network around the UK who want to build their skills.  Community foundations often work with local networks to develop skills and local connection for grassroots organisations, supporting a more cohesive sector that is ready and resilient, standing together.

Funders also play an important role in supporting better practices across the field of philanthropy and charity.  UKCF is committed to IVAR's Open and Trusting Grant Making, a set of principles that encourages better outcomes for communities through honest and collaborative approaches.  We want to walk the walk, be transparent about both challenges and growth in areas of our grant making, and support those we work with to do the same. 

By balancing ourselves between tomorrow’s possibilities and today’s challenges, funders can help to secure the path for a more sustainable and equipped society.