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There isn't enough funding and there isn't going to be and this is driving the huge surge in applications, creating substantial additional workload for both applicants and grant makers. However, there is a lot that could be done to make grant making both more effective and less workload on both grantees and grant makers.
This best practice guide looks at ways grant makers can manage high volumes of applications to reduce workload without excluding good applicants or reducing impact of their grant making.
Many seem to think the surge in applications is being driven by the growing use of AI but we think that's incorrect. The analysis of our data on how charities are using AI in grant applications showed that they are using it sensibly and in a way that grant makers would wish them to, with no evidence it was being used to submit significant additional numbers of bids.
The ACF report Foundations in Focus (2025) stated that in 23/24 grants increased by 12% and that applications surged dramatically, with some foundations reporting up to 400% more. This was attributed to inflation, cost-of-living pressures, and increased demand for charity services. Our analysis of our own and wider data identifies Government funding is also a major factor. The Government has been cutting departmental budgets year on year as well, not least in mid 2023, when our £1bn Funding Cuts report predicted the collapse in fundraising resilience that became the longest crisis so far. Unlike fundraising, Government funding does not increase again as the economy recovers. What we're seeing is charities increasingly trying to replace lost public sector contract and grant funding with charitable funding. That's a major driver in why applications to foundations have hugely increased.
Looking at the Government's current (autumn 2026) fiscal position, there is very little room to manoeuvre. Cuts in the coming Budget are a high probability and, inevitably, this would feed through to charity contracts and local grants. This would also drive higher demand for our services and associated tax increases would be likely to put further pressure on larger charities. A reduction in demand seems unlikely and we can see no indicators of any easing in 2027, as the Gulf and other factors feed through into the cost of basic commodities, interest rates and inflation.
It is surprising just how difficult it can be to find out what a grant maker actually wants, with information often out-of-date, missing, wrong, vague or in different areas of the website. This not only creates extra workload for those who may wish to apply, it makes it a lot more likely you'll receive ineligible applications and those missing key information you need, because applicants can't find it. Our charitable grant making best practice guide provides a whole series of ideas on how grant makers can help themselves and potential applicants. It's based on our experience in running our grants directory and feedback from charities at the front line through a range of surveys we've conducted.
Make life easier for yourself and your applicants by asking yourself questions such as is the information we ask for:
At the risk of sounding weird and radical, have you ever thought about standardising your approach with other grant makers that work in your area of interest? Each grant maker has their own priorities but there are common themes across all grant applications and more so within specific areas. Creating commonality where you are able to will reduce the workload on our hard pressed front line charities
Instead of asking for a full application, use an EOI. Limited information such as the charity's name, key details on the unmet need and how they will respond to this, the amount requested, who and how many will benefit and the impact this will have. Inviting the strongest cases to submit a full application, ensures that a range of proposals has been considered whilst it can significantly reduce the time applicants spend on writing proposals and the grant makers time in assessing these.
We really appreciate those grant makers that provide funding on a general purposes, unrestricted basis or broad basis as this really helps charities. However, if you simply have far too many applications, revisit what you fund by thinking about what your highest prioritise are and focus more on these. That might be by focusing more on what you fund, who or where.
Charities improving local communities.
We are prioritising charities working with people aged 16-25 experiencing homelessness in Kent.
Many applicants apply because they cannot judge whether they fit and, for grant makers with broad or multiple objectives, it may be that the bulk of your funding goes to particular areas with less to others. Publishing details of your recent grants and amounts awarded, or a breakdown of how much funding goes to each area, helps potential applicants decide whether to apply, or not.
You can create either an online checker, or a simple online checklist, with questions such as:
For online systems, answering no to any essential criterion, redirects applicants before they complete an application form. If you think people will simply click through by answering 'yes' to everything, make it multiple choice.
Many charities are desperately trying to secure vital funding and you can help them by providing direction/links to other grant makers who may be more suitable. This can help to make it less likely they will submit an application to you that isn't a good fit with your work. A simple way to do that is to include details of our Funding Finder grants directory. It's free and the only one optimised to support small charities and marginalised groups. Moreover, it's also the only directory that connects its users to 100s of other free online funding lists and grants directories. If we don't have enough suitable grants for a nonprofit, we send them to someone who does.
For example:
This reduces volume without disadvantaging new applicants.
Permanent rolling programmes can generate a constant stream of applications. Quarterly or biannual rounds:
Applicants also know when decisions will be made, which helps them with their planning.
Grant makers who provide application feedback either before applying or afterwards help applicants focus there efforts better, reduce workload on everyone and are very popular with charities. Even if you are unable to provide feedback to each, you could consider providing advice on your website about what makes a successful application or send a failed application e mail with categories such as:
This limits the range of applications, making it less likely you'll fund the best, reducing your grant making impact. And it increases the risk of drifting from having a long standing and highly effective relationship to funding your mates, which already happens far too often. With very limited funding, deploying what there is to maximum effect is now more important than ever.
A registered charity ourselves, the CEF works for any non profit, not just charities.
Plus, 65+ policies, our charity AI library of tool kits and best practice guides, 8 online health checks, the Quality Mark and the huge resource base. Our AI Ready programme and our 11 free online AI training courses.
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Ethics note: AI was partly used in researching this guide but under the direction and control of a human, with outputs reviewed and rewritten.
