A new study has highlighted the often prohibitive cost for charities, especially smaller ones, of applying to grant makers for funding. It shouldn't be this way.
Applying for charity funding is often incredibly arduous. The irony is that trusts and foundations want and indeed are generally obliged to give their funds away. Too often, the application process is a blunt instrument that, rather than finding the most derserving recipient of funds, limits the applicants to those that have the time and resources to spend filling out forms with a limited likelihood of a return.
Of course funders need to undertake due diligence to identify how their funds will be used but, as this article notes, hundreds of millions of pounds of charitable money are spent applying for grants and many organisations simply can't afford to apply. That must limit the funding options that grant makers have and certainly limits access to much needed funding for deserving charities, and that can't be good for anyone.