A charitable trust managing a fund worth £16m has stopped accepting online grant applications and said that AI has “ruined the process”.
The GC Gibson Charitable Trust, established in 1968 by Cardiff shipping business owner George Gibson, said on its website recently that the technology had made it “too easy to find us and write a submission and we had far too many applicants last year”.
It said the online process had “only been a small part of our charitable giving”, with the funder now using its trustees’ networks and database of previous applicants to select new grant recipients.
“There is no point contacting us unless we have already given you money,” its website reads. “Even then you might not get a response.”
A year ago, the grantmaker closed its online process early after being “overwhelmed” by more than 600 applications.
It said at the time that AI had “made it too easy to find us” and that it was reviewing its processes.
The funder donated £564,000 to various charities in the year to March 2025, a similar amount to the 12 months before, with grants ranging between £1,000 and £10,000.
In its 2024-25 accounts, the funder said that “typically around 10 grants are given and applications are measured in the many hundreds” through its online process.
On its grantmaking generally, the funder said in the report: “The trustees meet once a year to agree donations. The trustees have always offered long term support to charities with preference given to smaller charities where a trustee has a keen interest.”
Concern for wider impact
In a social media post, social enterprise leader Bryan Cook expressed concern that other funders may take similar steps due to an AI-driven increase in applications.
“It feels backwards,” said Cook, managing director of EduKit Solutions.
“It potentially creates a system where funding is more dependent on who you know, whether you’re already on a funder’s radar, or whether someone happens to come across your organisation.
“Is that gatekeeping? If that’s the future, charities are going to have to do a lot more PR and outreach to land on a funder’s radar.”
