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The view from… ACF

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The Association of Charitable Foundations (ACF) is the leading membership organisation for foundations and independent grant-makers in the UK. We believe that the foundation model of philanthropy plays a vital role in addressing societal challenges and fostering positive change.

The 2023–24 financial year marked a period of immense need. Communities across the UK continued to feel the effects of prolonged economic and social pressures, including the cost-of-living crisis, inflation and public service strain. Against this backdrop, it is positive to see that overall grantmaking spending increased. This reflects a clear response by foundations to rising need and reinforces their commitment to supporting the communities and causes they serve. However, it’s important to understand that foundations are only one part of the wider grantmaking ecosystem – and they cannot meet the scale of need alone.

While the increase in overall spending is encouraging, the data also reveals a more nuanced picture.  Not every foundation or foundation category followed this trend, and even within categories, the picture was far from uniform. For example, the general grantmakers category (the largest on the UKGrantmaking platform) saw a continued increase in spending by the top 100 grantmakers. Yet other categories displayed different patterns, and within each, there is considerable diversity in funding strategies, priorities and financial approaches.  This reinforces the importance of recognising the plurality of the foundation sector: one headline figure rarely captures the full story.

Our Foundations in Focus report, due out at the end of June, seeks to understand these patterns by providing a deeper, more contextualised look at the insights behind the data.  Based on qualitative input from an expert advisory panel, it explores what may be driving these trends.

ACF’s 450+ members were responsible for over 70% of total foundation grantmaking in 2023–24.  Our largest 200 members alone distributed £6.1 billion in grants, a 12% increase on the previous year (unadjusted for inflation).  In addition, ACF supported 170 collaborative initiatives between funders through the Funders Collaborative Hub, strengthening cross-sector learning and collective impact.

We are proud to be a UKGrantmaking partner. We believe that open, transparent data on grantmaking enhances trust, improves decision-making, and drives more effective philanthropy. It also provides an opportunity to shine a light on the critical role foundations play in tackling urgent social challenges and supporting a wide range of communities and charitable causes across the UK and internationally.

To explore the latest insights in more depth, we encourage you to read this year’s Foundations in Focus report (available end of June 2025).

We’re continuing to develop and evolve UKGrantmaking with each annual edition, so please do share your feedback and ideas for future development, and sign up to 360Giving’s newsletter for updates.