Systems
Every charity is, in its own small way, a monopolist. Which explains more than you'd think.
Applications matter for Equitable Grant Making When thinking about how to make grants more accessible, the applications is often overlooked. We want to change this at Plinth and we think more foundations should do the same. For many small charities and community groups, applying for a grant involves navigating a
From April 2026, the Crisis and Resilience Fund (CRF) replaces the Household Support Fund with a three-year, £1 billion per year settlement - the most significant investment in local crisis support in a generation. For the first time, councils have multi-year certainty to plan and deliver services that don'
Council support can be unintentionally directed to those they have most contact with; not necessarily the people most in need.
Every month we speak to charities frustrated with the difficulties of grant applications and reporting for their existing grants. Some organisations have raised the question of whether particular grants were even worth it? Would it have been better to just not apply? To answer that, we've got some
Charities spend too many hours filling out monitoring reports for funders. This gets in the way of learning. We tried to quantify that effect and understand why.
Charities, data, community impact, technology and AI.
The increasing use of AI has raised new ethical questions in the grantmaking sector. Foundations are concerned about how AI implementation might affect their organisational integrity. Data protection, bias, AI decision-making and sustainability. These are usually the major topics in question. Whilst the concern is legitimate, the answers to these
You might be well-endowed, but it’s what you do with it that matters.
Often we're told that to be a 'charity case' is a label of shame. That it's one of pity and dependence. But the truth is, our outcomes and life experiences are contingent on our dependence on the generosity of others. It was charity in
In strategy sessions and on websites for foundations and philanthropists across the globe, you'll increasingly hear the language of Venture Capital investing. "Catalytic funding." "First-mover advantage." "Disruptive innovation." This isn't coincidence — it's a deliberate shift as philanthropy increasingly
Those who spend their wealth in God’s cause are like grains of corn that produce seven ears, each bearing a hundred grains. God gives multiple increase to whoever He wishes: He is limitless and all knowing. (2:261) If you were told to annually give away 2.5% of
Celebrating the Renewal of HAF Funding After all of our work with HAF teams, we’re breathing a sigh of relief to see that funding for the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme has been renewed for another year. This decision ensures that the invaluable work done by local councils,
Right now, charity funding in the UK feels like watching a much-loved first car slowly fall apart. Bits are starting to fall off, it doesn't run quite as smoothly as it used to, and some of the parts have given up completely. But no one can afford a
We're not doing it anymore. OK, but what on earth are you talking about? Fair question. A few months ago, we wrote a couple of posts about offering an AI bid-writing tool for charities to use for grant applications on a no-win, no-fee basis. I guess you could
Why we think grant-making needs to improve, how we think our platform can support that, and why the model we’re offering enables it.
Today we've made a big change to the pricing of our AI grant writer. We've moved towards a no-win, no-fee commission based model. But is this unethical or illegal?
Have you started to use AI to support your charity’s mission? Congrats, you’re ahead of the curve. Only 27 out of 100 charities have got there so far, according to The Charities Digital Skills Report. But as is common when you’re an early adopter, you might find
You might have guessed, but for our AI Grant Writing tool, we are using AI to make it all work. When we tell people this, they come up with lots of questions such as: * What is AI? * How does it work? * How do you make the answers personalised to us?
