More than seven in 10 fundraisers feel unsupported by funders and grant-makers as the cost-of-living crisis continues to impact the charity sector, new data shows. 

Third Sector ran a survey of charity fundraisers between June and July this year to understand the biggest pressures facing those on the front lines of raising vital funds at a volatile time for the sector.

More than 100 respondents shared their views on subjects that ranged from working through the cost-of-living crisis to the cultures within their organisations and the different digital tools they are experimenting with to support their fundraising. 

Almost two-thirds (65 per cent) of fundraisers said the cost-of-living crisis had affected their ability to carry out their role. 

Around seven in 10 said they had seen a decline in individual giving, while more than 60 per cent said their organisations had been negatively impacted by cuts to local and central government funding. 

The research showed that slightly more than seven in 10 said they did not feel sufficiently supported by independent funders and grantmakers in the current environment. 

“I have never known trust and foundation fundraising to be so hard,” one respondent told Third Sector. 

“There is so much competition for funds and funders seem to be constantly changing or reviewing their strategy and closed to unsolicited applications.” 

Another fundraiser said: “If it took £500,000 to run an organisation before the pandemic it would now cost around 800,000. 

“But eligibility brackets set by funders have not shifted, meaning that organisations are not fully funded, or are not eligible for funding that they once were.” 

In recent weeks, both the City Bridge Foundation and the Schroder Charity Trust closed their grant programmes due to “unprecedented” demand. 

Wayne Murray, founder of the charity sector consultancy Humanity Squared, told Third Sector the seven in 10 survey finding was “on the conservative end” of what he was seeing. 

“I have worked in the sector since the last century, and I have never known it this bad,” he said. “It throws into sharp relief fundraising practice and how we actually change these practices.”

The pressures of funding models are particularly impacting small and micro charities, Murray warned. 

He said: “We have to question why it is so onerous. Shortening deadlines, goalposts moving, ridiculous amounts of impact and insight needed, only funding for new projects rather than what charities distinctively know what works. How do we change that? Small charities can’t do it on their own.” 

More than half (57 per cent) of the fundraisers that participated in Third Sector’s survey worked for organisations with a turnover of less than £1m – encompassing micro, small and medium-sized charities. More than one-third (36 per cent) were from large and major charities, while a handful (7 per cent) belonged to organisations with an income of more than £100m.

The findings follow warnings from the think tank Pro Bono Economics that one in three charities expect to be “overwhelmed” by an increase in service demand this autumn, with 32 per cent also expecting their finances to deteriorate.

Speaking to Third Sector last week [Link to Emily H Analysis], the philanthropy expert Rhodri Davies warned the pressures could risk “a gap opening up between grantee organisations and funders”. 

He said: “They all agree on the analysis of the problem but the reality of what that means in practice is if a funder stops funding for a while, the organisation on the ground is still just trying to do the work. 

“There’s a certain amount of frustration because they don’t have the luxury to stop or pause to think.”