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How UKGrantmaking and GrantNav support charities

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By Tania Cohen, Chief Executive, 360Giving

Originally published in Civil Society Media’s Governance & Leadership Magazine in March 2025

In the evolving landscape of charitable funding, the need for strategic, data-informed decision-making in charities and funders has never been more critical. 

As pressures mount on the charitable sector and communities, we can no longer operate in isolation. Understanding the broader ecosystem, identifying funding gaps, and maximising impact all require a collective view of grantmaking. 

That’s why, 360Giving, in collaboration with key partners, developed the UKGrantmaking platform you’re on now — to provide a comprehensive overview of grantmaking across the UK, offering a powerful resource for both charities and funders, and complementing the information available in 360Giving’s search engine for grants, GrantNav. For trustees and leaders, understanding and using these platforms alongside other data is no longer a luxury, but a necessity for effective decision-making.

Data is not a buzzword or a fad: it’s the lifeblood of effective grantmaking. It allows funders to make decisions that are informed by the broader context in which they operate. Access to this data is equally crucial for charities. It equips them to understand funding trends, identify potential funders, and find organisations they can collaborate with or learn from.

What is UKGrantmaking?

Launched in June 2024, UKGrantmaking is the new definitive annual publication on grant funding in the UK. It is a unique collaboration between 360Giving, the Association of Charitable Foundations, the Association of Charitable Organisations, UK Community Foundations, and London Funders, supported by Pears Foundation and CCLA. Many other sector bodies also contributed through the Advisory Group. 

It is a free, interactive platform that collates and analyses information on grants made during the most recent year when published statutory accounts information was available. The platform showcases data and insights on over £20 billion of grants from varied funding sectors to the voluntary, community, and social sectors. 

UKGrantmaking is designed with interactive visualisations and tables, allowing people to explore data in depth. You can search, sort and download data, providing unprecedented access to grantmaking information. For the first time, funders, sector bodies, policymakers, researchers, fundraisers, and sector media can access this valuable data in one place.

Throughout this blog we refer to insights from our first edition, which looked at grantmaking in 2022-23, to illustrate the usefulness of the platform.

Key findings from 2022-23

  • Over 13,000 UK grantmakers provided grants to the value of over £20 billion in 2022-23.
  • The vast majority of grantmakers are small, distributing under £1 million a year.
  • Across the largest 300 trusts and foundations, grant spending rose by 14% – a real-terms (when adjusted for inflation) increase of 3% to £5.2 billion.
  • The majority of grant recipients in data that was published using the 360Giving Data Standard were small charities – 77% recorded an income of under £1 million.
  • Only a third of the value of grants awarded to charities registered in London operate in London only – the majority of funding to London-based organisations went to national and international charities.

This is only a fraction of the information available in the platform – you can explore the data and visualisations for yourself at UKGrantmaking.org.

The need for a holistic view

In today’s interconnected world, funders can no longer afford to operate in isolation. The complex challenges facing our society require a collective, coordinated response. No one organisation or even one sector can do it alone. UKGrantmaking provides the ‘big picture’ view essential for effective grantmaking. It allows funders to see how their giving fits into the broader landscape and identify opportunities to collaborate with others.

An image of a packed circles graph showing the Number and size of UK grantmakers by grantmaking segment, 2022-23. Text reads that over 13,000 grantmakers in the UK distributed over £20bn of grants in 2022-23. Across the largest 300 foundation grantmakers, grant spending rose by 14% - a real terms increase of 3% to £5.2bn.

This shift towards a more collaborative, data-informed approach is essential for maximising the impact of grantmaking. By embracing transparency and sharing data, trusts and foundations can work together to create a more just and equitable society.

The increasing availability of data is transforming the philanthropic sector. Trusts and foundations are recognising the importance of data-informed decision-making, using data to:

  • Identify strategic priorities: Data helps funders understand the most pressing needs within their focus areas and identify opportunities to make a real difference.
  • Collaborate and share knowledge: Data facilitates collaboration between funders, allowing them to share insights, coordinate their efforts, and avoid duplication of funding and ‘cold spots’.
  • Support systems change: By understanding the broader ecosystem, funders can identify opportunities to support systemic change, address the causes of problems, and consider the most strategic collective approach to maximise their impact.

Collaboration between funders is growing. Looking just at grantmakers who published their data using the 360Giving Data Standard in 2022-23, UKGrantmaking found that £270m flowed between funders for joint projects or for regranting.

UKGrantmaking is an annual project that will evolve each year, with the next edition due to be launched in June 2025. Be among the first to hear when it goes live, by signing up for 360Giving’s newsletter. We’re also keen to hear what you would find most useful, so please do get in touch if you would like to suggest developments to UKGrantmaking.

Why is UKGrantmaking important for charity trustees and leaders?

UKGrantmaking can help charities understand the funding landscape. It provides information and trends that put fundraising into context. For example, understanding that grants from private companies, excluding payments to their corporate foundations, is a tiny proportion of all grantmaking (excluding gifts in kind and sponsorship arrangements), can support prioritisation of where you spend your time fundraising if you do not already have relationships with these companies and are looking for grants. It provides an understanding of the size of grants and the fact that grants over £1m, outside those made by the Government and Wellcome Trust, are very rare. Even six-figure grants are less common than many people perceive.

For fundraisers, understanding the landscape and trends can be a way to benchmark performance, to identify potential funding prospects for further research, to inform business cases, or to set targets and manage expectations. For example, suppose the trend is for a 3% increase in grants from trusts and foundations, setting a 15% increase in targets might be overly ambitious – unless specific activities or investments are driving a change in your performance.

And, of course, UKGrantmaking data can be used with GrantNav. If a funder in UKGrantmaking is flagged as having published their grants data using the 360Giving Data Standard, you can use GrantNav to see the detail of what they have funded, identify if they have funded similar organisations in the past and review the nature and size of their funding to see if is aligned to your needs. This can help to prioritise your time, for example working out which funders’ websites are worth researching for currently open programmes.

The data can also be used to support strategy development in charities. Who is delivering similar work to your organisation that you may be able to collaborate with or learn from? Where do you sit in the overall landscape? How does data about grant funding complement data you have from other sources about the needs of communities you support? When applying for funding, an application form might ask about your understanding of the context with questions like: ‘who is doing similar work?’ Be sure to check GrantNav because if you are selling your project as unique, but the funder has identified other projects on GrantNav, it may impact your credibility.

The importance of data

Being 360Giving, we would say that data is important, wouldn’t we? Our vision is for grantmaking in the UK to become more informed, effective and strategic. Our aim is for more money to go where it is needed most to support communities and causes through a more informed understanding of the grantmaking picture. Fortunately, we are not the only ones who believe this. We have seen a significant increase in the number of funders publishing their grants data, with over 315 leading funders now contributing to this collective effort. Data on over one million grants has already been published, and the value of open grants data now totals over £300 billion. At the time of writing, well over 100,000 people had accessed and used this data for free in our tools over the previous year, including our search engine for grants, GrantNav. 

This growing engagement reflects a recognition of the need to step back and look at the big picture in grantmaking. Embracing open data facilitates collaboration, helping funders to align efforts, share insights, and co-fund initiatives that address systemic issues. It also enhances understanding of the funding landscape, enabling the identification of trends, gaps, and opportunities. It demonstrates a commitment to transparency, which can strengthen relationships with stakeholders, donors, and grantees. 

It is free of charge for funders to publish their data, and for people to access the data in the 360Giving tools – you don’t even need a login. With pressure on the sector increasing, taking a data-informed approach is no longer optional – we have a collective responsibility to ensure we understand the context of our decisions and strategies.

Next steps

We encourage all charity trustees and leaders to explore UKGrantmaking and GrantNav and integrate data into their fundraising and strategic planning processes. By leveraging the power of data, charities can navigate the evolving philanthropic landscape, understand potential funding, and, ultimately, better serve their stakeholders. Data won’t give you all the answers, but it can help ensure you ask the right questions. 

The data available represents a significant step forward in the evolution of UK philanthropy, supporting charities and funders to work together more effectively to address the complex challenges facing our society. It’s not just about what’s new in trusts and foundations; it’s about what’s next – a future where data informs impact and collaboration fuels positive change.

For support using grants data, take a look at the guidance and resources on the ‘Explore grants data’ page of the 360Giving website, and visit the ‘Get support’ page to find free workshops and services.