Announcing the new UK Grantmaking Project

A new hub for UK Grantmaking data and insights coming in 2024.

We are pleased to announce the launch of UK Grantmaking, a collaborative project to develop a new platform that will bring together data on the landscape of grantmaking in the UK. The new platform will strengthen grantmaking understanding, collaboration, decision-making, strategy and practice in the sector.

The project is a collaboration between 360Giving, Association of Charitable Foundations, Association of Charitable Organisations, UK Community Foundations, London Funders and various other organisations supporting the funding and charitable sectors.

Background

In June 2023, 360Giving launched UK Grantmaking 2021-22: Snapshot, which provided an overview of grantmaking across different sectors. In this research we explored the wider context to understand the grantmaking picture beyond 360Giving data, and demonstrated what analysis might be possible with the available data.

The analysis provided a consolidated view of grantmaking data in a concise and accessible format through interactive visualisations. By collating information from multiple funder types, it offered valuable insights into the landscape of funding in the UK, presented together for the first time. This supported a deeper understanding of philanthropic efforts, and by putting these into a wider context, highlighted patterns, as well as making it easier to see what further data is needed in the future to provide a fuller account of UK grantmaking.

360Giving has learned a lot from this initial project and is now working with a range of partners to expand the initiative.

UKGrantmaking.org

In response to the needs expressed by funders, stakeholders, data users and partners, we are embarking on a project to create a centralised repository that provides a comprehensive overview and understanding of grantmaking in the UK. While existing reports offer insights into grantmaking spending, there is currently no unified platform that consolidates data from grantmaking organisations across sectors. UKGrantmaking.org aims to fill this gap, offering an interactive platform that showcases the data, trends, and insights.

With a commitment to openness and learning, the project outputs will be refined through collaboration with partners, input from an advisory group of stakeholders, sector data specialists, and user feedback. UKGrantmaking.org is a collective endeavour dedicated to understanding and advancing the grantmaking sector. It will include deep-dives into data on different parts of the sector, with visualisations to support engagement, and commentary and insights to put it into context from partner organisations.

It will be updated annually, aiming to launch with 2022-23 grantmaking data in June 2024 – however, dependencies, such as data availability from the Charity Commission for England and Wales, may impact the timeline.

The new purpose-built platform will allow funders, sector bodies, policymakers, researchers, fundraisers, and sector media to access, explore, and download data and insights about UK grantmaking. We hope that the platform will serve as a catalyst for conversations, engagement, and improvement in the quality of grantmaking data, and becomes something that we can build on and further enhance in future years.

How you can get involved

Publish or update your data

If you are a 360Giving publisher, or are in the process of publishing your data, please make sure your data for April 2022 to March 2023 is published or updated as soon as possible, and by mid-March 2024 at the latest, to be included in the analysis. Visit our Publisher support page to find out ways we can help.

Let us know what you would find useful

Our first step into sector-wide analysis with the Snapshot presented key insights from grantmaking data and showcased what is possible. We’re eager to understand how this can be expanded and made more useful to you, within the data available to us. What would you like to see in the analysis to be produced in 2024 and in future years? Please give your feedback on the approach and what you’d find useful going forward.

Fund or sponsor the project

The Pears Foundation has generously pledged to continue to support this project for the next three years; however, we are looking for more funders to join them to further grow our ambitious plans. If you are interested in funding or sponsoring this work and being part of this exciting opportunity, please contact Tania Cohen.