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Funders are blocking collaboration, says disability charity

Fundraising | Tania Mason | 29 Oct 2012

Efforts by some charities to respond to the government’s desire for more collaboration in the sector are being scuppered by the policies of some funders, according to a Cumbria leisure charity.

Kevin Jones, trustee of the Riversiders Trust, has written an article for Governance magazine and civilsociety.co.uk outlining the problems the Trust has encountered when applying for funding for some of its services that are run in collaboration with another Kendal-based charity, the Oaklea Trust.

The Riversiders Trust funds two clubs offering leisure activities for adults and teenagers with disabilities in Kendal, and has been running them for the last 12 years in partnership with the Oaklea Trust. Oaklea provides a club leader, professional care staff, training and support on issues such as safeguarding and health and safety.

However, recently fundraising has become more difficult, Jones claimed. Responses from funders to several applications have been disappointing, he said.  

One notable exception was the Northern Rock Foundation, who “made us work hard to convince them that outsourcing the running of the clubs to the Oaklea Trust was the most practical and economic method of delivering the service”, and spent time visiting the clubs and understanding the arrangement before agreeing to the funding.

But the Big Lottery Fund was less obliging. An application to its Reaching Communities fund was rejected at the first stage because “the organisation applying for the grant must be the same organisation that will receive the funds, and manage the delivery of the project”.

The Trust was also told by representatives of Children in Need and Lloyds TSB that they would not fund charities that outsourced service delivery to another organisation.

Jones said it would be entirely understandable if charities exploring potential collaborations were put off from doing so after speaking to funders.

He said: “When can we look forward to a more positive reception from funders who welcome and pursue the government’s initiative of collaboration instead of rejecting it at the first stage of an application?

“If I am wrong and there are funders out there who do have a positive approach to collaboration please announce yourselves to Governance to save many charities like Riversiders wasting a large amount of time on applications doomed to failure.”

Click here to read Kevin Jones’ blog.