Grants++ Event: How funders can help beyond grantmaking and build the long term resilience of charities

What a fantastic morning we had last month! Lightful hosted our Grants ++ event designed to bring funders together to explore how they can go beyond traditional grantmaking and truly support charities on their journey to long term sustainability. In a time where the funding landscape is shifting so rapidly, it was fantastic to connect in person for such an uplifting conversation, to collectively spark ideas on how funders can support their grantees and to launch Lightful’s next BRIDGE programme in June, supporting nonprofits with digital and AI skills.

What was the event all about?

The event was for Trusts & Foundations and Corporate Social Responsibility leaders either already operating a funder plus model, or for those who were looking to understand how they can do more to support their grantees beyond grants. ‘Funder plus’ is an approach where philanthropists, in addition to grants, support funded charities with training, services and resources to strengthen their long-term resilience, grow their impact, and continue thriving even when the initial grant comes to an end.

Who attended?

The panel discussion was led by the brilliant Adam Askew, renowned campaigner and philanthropic advisor who worked with Lightful on an early iteration of the digital skills programme, which eventually became BRIDGE (Building Resilience in Digital Growth and Engagement). Adam brought his wealth of knowledge about his successes (and challenges) over the years of implementing funder plus strategies.

Our wonderful panel included Tessa Durham, Co-Director of Gower Street foundation, Sarah Boateng, Founder & Director of IGEA Enterprise charity and, finally, our Head of Programmes, Róisín McGovern, who took us through how Lightful’s BRIDGE programme works step by step. Tessa, Sarah and Adam shared their experiences of delivering and receiving funder plus initiatives, including the BRIDGE programme, and brought these initiatives to life - some of these insights are highlighted below.

What did we learn from our panel?

1. ‘Funder plus’ can be ‘business as usual’ and make grants go further

Tessa, Co-Director of Gower Street, a family foundation supporting small charities tackling the climate crisis across the UK and internationally (particularly Ghana), shared that capacity-building is not just an add on, but a core part of their strategy to support their grantees in the long term. By investing in skills development, they help charities diversify their income and build long-term sustainability beyond Gower Street’s grants. Tessa also highlighted the importance of flexibility in funder plus offerings, such as the bespoke nature of the BRIDGE programme, to meet each organisation’s unique needs.

"Rather than only giving short term grants to one organisation, strategic funder plus activities and partnerships might allow 10 grantees to feel the impact, and learnings last in the long term after the grant has ended." - Tessa

2. Structured capacity-building impacts the whole organisation positively but trust is crucial from funders

Sarah Boateng, Founder & Director of IGEA Enterprise, a charity dedicated to ensuring access to quality education for all girls in rural communities in Northern Ghana, shared that she initially felt unsure where to begin with digital capacity-building. With limited time for small charities to structure their own learning, she greatly valued the supported capacity-building opportunities from partners, including Lightful, which she accessed through IGEA’s funders. Sarah emphasised that funder plus only works if funders trust local charities as experts on the ground, and highlighted the importance of funders allowing charities to identify and shape the capacity-building support they really need.

With the support of the Lightful BRIDGE programme, IGEA Enterprise collaborated with a UK-based brand to work on their digital strategy and launch a t-shirt campaign on Menstrual Hygiene Day in 2022. All of the t-shirts sold out in the end and 50% of profits from the campaign were donated to IGEA to fund period products for young girls.

"Funder plus programmes are incredibly important to the long term sustainability of a charity. For example, the BRIDGE programme helped to push us out of our comfort zone and learn about how to run campaigns in the future…we set up check-ins at different stages of the campaign and were able to bounce different ideas to get the most out of it, which was helpful and encouraging. I use funder plus learnings like this to train staff to ensure the organisation as a whole benefits in the long term." - Sarah

3. Rewards of funder plus and taking senior colleagues on the journey

Adam Askew has been championing funder plus for many years and supported Lightful in one of our early digital programmes through his work at Comic Relief. Adam highlighted his successes of implementing funder plus strategies over the years whilst acknowledging that it is not always easy for teams to implement or to convince their senior leaders of its importance.

"As a funder, we have often talked about sustainability without much substance or support. Being a Funder plus organisation is about trust, respect and relationships. You are an equal partner who happens to be funding the work. Funder plus programmes are critical to strengthening the charity sector, particularly at a time when institutional funding streams are becoming harder to access. However, putting them into practice and convincing senior leadership and boards of their importance can be hard. An internal culture of failure, evidence and story telling is crucial in supporting the journey." - Adam

What next?

All attendees agreed that it is important to listen to and trust grantees, and to have funder plus as a key part of an organisation’s strategy. Below are some questions to think about if you are a funder interested in capacity building for long term resilience:

• Do you proactively foster transparent, trusting relationships with your grantees?
• How can you prioritise long-term support and growth of your grantees, alongside short-term initiatives and funding? What do your charity grantees need help with?
• In a rapidly evolving digital landscape, how can you better understand the needs of your grantees in terms of online storytelling, digital fundraising, and AI? If unsure, do you have plans to ask them?
• Do you encourage peer-to-peer learning between your grantees?
• In addition to grantmaking, how can you start to support your grantees to be more resilient and durable into the future?

As well as our speakers, we wanted to say a very special thanks to our hosts The Westminster Foundation, our partners at The Unlimited Law, and guests including AlixPartners, City Bridge Foundation, Christian Aid, Global Dignity, Greenwood Place, JP Morgan Chase, Lloyds Bank Foundation for England & Wales, Queen Rania Foundation, Renaissance Philanthropy, The Fore, The Henry Smith Charity, UK Acumen Academy and WomenStrong International!

How can we help?

Head of Programmes, Róisín McGovern, encouraged both funders and charities to adopt a ‘digital first’ mindset to ensure the sector does not get left behind and to begin to bridge the digital skills gap. She also shared that 96% of participants at Lightful’s recent ‘Navigating Funding Uncertainty’ webinar said they wanted more digital capacity-building support to confidently tackle funding challenges.

Lightful’s mission is to help charities become better storytellers, build trust online and raise more money. BRIDGE (Building Digital Resilience in Digital Growth and Engagement) is Lightful’s flagship digital and AI skills programme which helps our partner’s grants go further. BRIDGE uses a cohort model to equip a large number of charities with the skills and knowledge they need to thrive and create a vital community of practice. The learning-by-doing curriculum ensures that the benefits extend far beyond the programme itself, enabling long-term resilience and sustainable impact.

Our tried-and-tested programme has supported 3,500+ small charities in 120+ countries already through ever-evolving funding and digital landscapes, and we are more motivated than ever to continue supporting charities through these challenging times.

If you would like to be part of the BRIDGE Collective, we are thrilled to announce that Lightful will be running our next BRIDGE digital and AI skills programme in June 2025! If your grantees are interested in joining the June cohort, and if you would like to be considered to be part of our steering group, please reach out to Nikhila at partnerships@lightful.com - we would love to catch up!