A REFRESHED APPROACH TO GRANTMAKING

From mid June 2025 we will be further streamlining our approach to distributing grants. To simplify the process and save time for applicants, we will use our extensive and constantly growing database of community groups and charities to identify those that fit the funds we have available at any time. We will then invite relevant organisations to submit an application.

Reducing the burden on applicants

Our aim is to make it easier for organisations to secure grants. Groups will no longer have to spend precious time submitting a new application each time new funding becomes available. Instead, we will work behind the scenes to match up the groups and funds that fit best. This means that when groups are invited to submit an application, they will have a much better chance of success.

We already know hundreds of community groups and charities across Devon. If you’ve submitted an application to us since 1 January 2023, successful or not, you will already be on our list and we will consider you for all funding on a rolling basis. We will be publishing this list on our website so previous applicants can check that we have a record of them.

If you haven’t applied for funding from us in that time, we want to hear from you. When the refreshed process launches we will have a brief “Getting to know you” form on our website. After completing our eligibility checklist, we will ask you a few questions to find out what you do, where, and with whom. Once you have submitted this form, you will be on our database and we will invite you to apply when we have relevant funding.

It is highly likely that the number of eligible organisations will outnumber the amount of funding we have available at any given time. To avoid wasting applicants’ time, we will keep the number of groups we invite to apply proportionate to the value of grants we are able to make. We are developing a system to make sure we do this fairly and we will be as transparent about this as we can. We will also commit to keeping in touch with all groups on our database on a regular basis to update them on our grantmaking.

Listening to feedback

This approach builds on the successful pilot of our expression of interest process last October. Drawing on these expressions of interest, over the last six months we have distributed 28 grants worth more than £372,000 in total. Of those invited to apply, 65% were successful. We are currently contacting more organisations to apply for further funding that has become available.

We have listened to feedback from the pilot and made improvements accordingly. We are confident that this approach will benefit applicants and improve our grantmaking. As a member of IVAR’s Open and Trusting Grantmaking initiative we have made eight key commitments, including not wasting applicants’ time and being clear about our relationship from the start. By streamlining our process we can better keep these promises to applicants.

However, we understand that the change may feel unsettling and groups are likely to have questions as they get used to the new system. We will try to answer as many of these as we can through our newsletter, website and social media when we launch the refreshed process in June. We will also host an online Q&A session where a member of the grants team will talk through the process in more detail and answer any questions. And you can contact our grants team at any time via grants@devoncf.com.

Read about some of the groups we have funded so far


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