An older lady in a sky blue cardigan smiles as she stands at her front door with a craft pack delivered by volunteers

Our commitment to flexible funding.

County Durham Community Foundation wants to be more open and trusting in our grant-making. So with more than 100 other funders, we have signed up to Flexible Funders project with the Institute for Voluntary Action Research (IVAR) to work on this.

We think now is the perfect time for positive change in UK grant-making. The groups we fund have shown time and again how responsible and effective they are at easing poverty and enriching lives.

To achieve this positive change, funders, charities and their partners will all need to be persistent, determined and in it for the long term.

IVAR have written the blog below about the past year, and what has been learned so far:

Change is urgent: A year of open and trusting grant-making

Sharon Gollan, Senior Donor Services & Programme Manager for the Foundation, said: “We get really good feedback from the groups that we fund who say our forms are simple and the team is helpful. But we are always keen to learn more and do better, and that is why we have joined the IVAR project and signed up to the eight commitments.

“This doesn’t mean we will always get it right, but it does mean we will always do our best.

“We have huge respect for the groups we fund and know how hard it is to do what they do. All we want to do is make life easier for them and knock down any barriers that get in the way of applying for our funding programmes.”  

The eight commitments County Durham Community Foundation has signed up to are:

  1. Don’t Waste Time
  2. Ask Relevant Questions
  3. Accept Risk
  4. Act with Urgency
  5. Be Open
  6. Enable Flexibility
  7. Communicate with Purpose
  8. Be Proportionate

Read more about these commitments