Don’t let your bid go in the bin

by Jay Kennedy, Head of Policy, Directory of Social Change

DSC research shows that over the latest financial year over one-third of all applications to charitable grantmakers were ineligible – over 361,000 went in the bin.  
Did you know that if each application took 10 minutes to write (a very conservative estimate) it would add up to nearly 7 years of wasted effort every year?And if each one were posted first class, that amounts to around £141,000 just in postage stamps?

We’re not talking about projects which just weren’t up to scratch, or which were good but couldn’t be funded due to lack of money.  We’re talking about applications which just didn’t meet the funder’s stated criteria.  For example, applications for work in England going to trusts which state they only fund in Scotland.  Or a foundation which funds respite breaks for carers receiving requests to support scientific research. 

Why does this matter?

Individually it might seem of little importance, but when you view it collectively it’s clearly a waste of time and effort that the voluntary sector cannot afford.  Think about this: even if it’s only the time spent opening an envelope and throwing it away, the administrative burden for the funder adds up. 

Fewer ineligible applications could mean quicker responses to the eligible ones, better feedback or engagement with applicants, or even more resources to allocate as grants.

Of course a certain amount of this is unavoidable, and there are plenty of reasons for why things are as they are.  Demand for funding will always outstrip supply, with the result that people ask for money where they think there might even the slightest chance of success.

Understandable as that is, surely we can do better – because as pressures on funding increase, we are going to have to find ways of making limited resources go further.  We are going to have to find ways to better match funders with the right organisations and projects, to build good relationships between them which work in the interests of both.

Our first step is to try and get a rough sense of the scale of the problem – which our research has done.  You can read all the details in a new report on our website at www.dsc.org.uk/greatgiving.

Next we want to get a discussion going about the causes and possible solutions. 

The specifics will vary from funder to funder and from fundraiser to fundraiser, but from our experience it seems clear that there are a number of causes for ineligible applications:

•   Lack of clear and accessible information from the funder, leaving the issue of eligibility open to interpretation
•   Lack of an available contact point for the funder to respond to queries, or not enough resources devoted to answering queries
•   Lack of constructive feedback or help from funders, which could help fundraisers to better target their efforts
•   Applicants submitting requests without having fully researched the funder’s criteria
•   Lack of experience or knowledge about how to research and approach funders
•   Applicants taking a quantity not quality approach  (i.e. blanket appeals which target large numbers of funders inappropriately)
•   Unclear or missing information from applicants

At DSC we’re here to help you succeed in your fundraising so you can achieve your goals – that’s why we provide so many books and courses on the topic.  But we’re also here to try and influence funders – to publicise what they do and encourage them to try and develop better ways of working.

We would like to know your experience of this issue – has your bid been rejected but you don’t know why?  Are you a funder who receives tons of applications which start with ‘I know you don’t usually fund this…?’  What’s your reaction to our research?  Send your comments to greatgiving@dsc.org.uk.