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Failure to disclose terms and conditions at the beginning of the funding process is reinforcing the unequal relationship between grant makers and grant recipients, argues DSC director of policy and research Ben Wittenberg in the latest article in his Trend Watch series in Charity Times (June edition).
The points Ben makes are:
DSC’s current research phase for the next edition of The Directory of Grantmaking Trusts has highlighted a glaring omission in the information that trusts and other funders are making available.
It is an omission that is regularly declared at a stage in the funding process that serves to reinforce the unequal power relationship between funder and funded – the terms and conditions contained in the formal grant letter.
Applicants rarely get to see these terms and conditions until they receive a formal offer of a grant, by which time, it’s too late.
All the effort involved in submitting the application for funding counts for nothing if at the last minute, with an offer of funding on the table, inappropriate and previously unseen terms and conditions are presented.
Because applicants need the money they are likely to comply with all the terms and conditions because they want to do the best for the people they support, and because it’s taken six months to get to this point and they can’t afford to start the fundraising process again with a different funder – who could still pull the same conditions out of the hat at the same point in the process.
While such conditions are withheld, and not published alongside information on funding priorities and application processes, the power will remain with the funders.