“You can have the funding BUT…”

by Jay Kennedy, Policy Officer, Directory of Social Change

That letter you have been waiting for has finally arrived.  It looks like all your dedicated fundraising has paid off and you’ve been awarded a grant!  You’re ecstatic – the money is going to make all the difference.

You read the grant letter – everything seems ok – then you see ‘you accept this grant subject to our standard terms and conditions, which are enclosed.’  Quickly you leaf through them – on first reading most of them seem fine, but a few sound bizarre, and one seems downright ridiculous.

What do you do? 

• Sign it off, send it back, and hope for the best?
• Ask for advice?  What if that takes too long or costs too much?
• Ring up the funder for an explanation and ask them to change what you think might be a problem?  Will they?
• Set about trying to adapt your organisation to comply with the conditions?

None of the options above are ideal, especially when you’re holding the offer of money in your hand.  You might have done things a bit differently had you seen the small print when you made your application – at least, you would have known what you were in for and could have prepared accordingly.  You could have raised any issues with the funder at an earlier stage, or decided not to bother and look elsewhere.
    
After all, if you don’t have all the relevant information you need when you start the application, how can you make an informed decision?  How can you plan ahead for success?

Worse, if the funder is inflexible you could wind up between a rock and a hard place – made to choose between taking money and accepting terms you might not agree with or not taking the money at all.

As part of our Great Giving campaign, we are asking all funders to make their funding terms and conditions publicly available along with other application materials.  We think this would help organisations to make more informed decisions when making an application, which will lead to better funding relationships.

DSC has published a new research report called Critical Conditions, which looks at how transparent funder terms and conditions are and whether funders are willing to negotiate them.  It reveals a number of interesting differences between government departments, trusts and foundations and companies.  You can download the full report here [pdf document], download a short summary [pdf document] or view a short summary here.