Funding

Funding the Community Sector Campaign

There is evidence of a decline in simple accessible small grants for the community sector. Where there is funding available to community groups, the levels of accessibility and associated bureaucracy are variable, causing volunteers to spend disproportionate amounts of time on paperwork not on community work.

The greatest impact of this is on the poorest people who rely disproportionately on the mutuality of civil society to deliver essential support. They are beginning to see groups and services that they have come to rely on being scaled back or closed due to a lack of funding. The wider consequences for society are an increase in crime, segregation, isolation and health problems alongside a decrease in engagement with local governance, at a time when central Government is aiming for communities to become more engaged.

We are currently working with NAVCA and other organisations involved in the Sustaining Grants alliance to develop this area of work.