Why do they make it so hard?
One of the big supermarkets recently updated the application guidelines for their charitable foundation, and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. Once again, the charitable arm of a large company has made it fantastically difficult for anyone to a) apply, and b) receive enough money to make the process of applying worthwhile.
There are a few different funding streams, but I’ll look at the Empowering Communities stream here.
The issues
There are so many barriers being put up here:
The guidelines document is 27 pages long - which is going to take a fair bit of time to read through properly.
There is a six week application window - not long for a small team of volunteers who may be trying to submit this in their spare time.
Projects have to be completed (one-off events) or started (ongoing projects) within six months of the application deadline - which may not be the most appropriate timeline for a particular project.
Grants are between £400 and £1,600, which is a small amount of money relative to the effort required to complete the form.
Donations can only be made by cheque (what?).
And to top it all off:
Applications can only be made after first receiving approval from an in-store Community Champion.
If you want to apply, you have to go into one of their larger stores, find the Community Champion (assuming they’re even on shift when you visit), and ask them for an application form.
This isn’t a resource issue for the company. This is one of the biggest companies in the country. They’ve got the resources to build a website and produce guidelines with pages and pages of information, so an online application form is not beyond them. This is a deliberate choice.
I like to assume good intent, so I imagine these application restrictions were designed to encourage stronger links between the in-store Community Champions and their local community. Plus, the company are doing a good thing by making money available to good causes, and that should be celebrated. But, the unintended consequence is that the company have succeeded in making it excessively difficult for the good causes in those communities to apply for the funds that they’re offering.
An alternative
As someone who has completed a lot of lengthy application forms, often for small amounts of money, I’ve perhaps got more radical views on this than most.
A large scale corporate-funded charitable foundation such as this is going to receive a huge number of applications for grants, even with the barriers they’ve put in place. This makes work for the charities and it makes work for the funder’s staff. There is a time and money cost to this. Why not simplify the whole process, and make it easier and cheaper for everyone, by randomising it?
All charities or community interest companies are already overseen and regulated by government agencies who ensure that they’re doing charitable work and organising themselves appropriately. Therefore, any donation to a registered charity or CIC is going to have a positive social benefit. It doesn’t matter which one you give money to, as they’ll all do good things with it.
By all means, set some parameters to match your goals, such as:
Must work within 10 miles of a branch
Must work with young people
If you tick those boxes, fill in your details and join the ballot. At the end of the application period, five (for example) are picked out at random. The Community Champion gets in touch, says “here’s £1,500 for you”, and they work with the charity to decide what project to use it on. This way, the leg work is only done with the five grant recipients, which is far more efficient.
I’ll admit, there could be regulatory reasons why this isn’t possible, but I can’t see what. Plus, I wouldn’t want this model used to fund more complex projects, or for high value donations, as they do require a more detailed, specialist approach. However, for a supermarket looking to decide who to give £400 to £1,600 to, I think this would work pretty well.
[ps: On the small chance that no-one has pointed out the flaws in their process, I’ll send a list of suggestions to the funder of things they can change for the better.
pps: Benefact already do something along these lines, with a monthly £1,000 prize draw for grants: LINK]
Opportunities for you
Trustee vacancy
If you’re fairly local to Southampton, UK, and interested in becoming a charity trustee, please reply to this email and let me know.
I have links with an organisation working with local older people. They are on the lookout for a new trustee, preferably with fundraising experience. If you’d like to learn more, I can give you the details and put you in touch. It’s a great, smaller charity that is well run and punches above its weight.
News from elsewhere
‘‘A national emergency’: UK theatres fear closure after more local funding cuts,’ by Vanessa Thorpe
The Guardian reports the desperate situation for many regional theatres, as councils cut arts funding to balance the books: LINK
‘Camila Batmanghelidjh was loudly vilified – and then silently vindicated,’ by Dr Mine Conkbayir
Byline Times highlights the way in which the Kids Company founder had her reputation publicly trashed, and then received little in the way of apology or attention when she was cleared of wrongdoing: LINK
Thank you for reading
Finally, here’s a photo has that has nothing to do with anything mentioned in this newsletter, but makes it look more interesting…
Skateboarder in Guildhall Square, Southampton, 2023.