Simpler reporting expected for grant fundees
The Esme Fairbairn Foundation and the Institute for Voluntary Action Research organised of two workshops earlier this year for funders and funded organisations to develop a set of principles to make grant reporting a shared, more meaningful and mutually beneficial experience.
The principles developed by the group were:
- Funders explain why they have awarded a grant.
- Funders and funded organisations are clear about what grant reporting will look like.
- Funders are clear about the type of relationship they would like to have with the organisations they fund.
- Funders only ask for information they need and use, and question whether they need bespoke reporting.
- Funders give feedback on any grant reporting they receive, and share their thoughts on the progress of the work.
- Funders describe what they do with the information they obtain from funded organisations.
Since sharing the principles, 12 large funding organisation have pledged to use more conversations and less paper in grant reporting.
Speaking about the principles, the Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales said “We are reducing the amount of bespoke reporting we require of our grantees, and want to tell grantees more clearly ow we use the information they provide to learn and improve”.
While Comic Relief said “We will be testing out co-creating a reporting format”.
Read more about the principles, along with the full report fromĀ Esme Fairbairn Foundation and the Institute for Voluntary Action Research here.