Grantmakers must tackle the “lack of mutual accountability” that “reinforces the power imbalance inherent in the relationship between funders and the organisations they support”, a new guide warns. 

The report, from the charity think tank NPC, aims to “provide practical steps and considerations” for how grantmakers can take a more “trusting and equitable approach” to funding. 

NPC said the guide, called Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning with Trust and Equity, was needed as a result of the funding sector “interrogating its relationships with the organisations it supports”. 

The report asks funders: “Where demand is always high, how do you know if you’re doing things well? And how can you know if what you’re funding is really working, or if funds and time would be better spent elsewhere?” 

It says such questions have become “more acute” as issues of equity have come to the fore, with the “recognition of the deep structural injustices in our societies today”.

It says: “This has provoked a reckoning among a growing group of grantmakers about who gets access to funding, who gets to make decisions about where funding goes, and the value and importance of lived experience.”

One section outlines how “historically, evaluation and accountability has solely focused on grant-holders, with those in receipt of funding having to show evidence of their effectiveness to funders”, and says “this lack of mutual accountability reinforces the power imbalance inherent in the relationship between funders and the organisations they support, undermining trust”. 

The report recommends funders attempt to understand who is experiencing structural inequalities in relation to the areas they are funding; examine the geographic spread of grantmaking and track success rates; and categorise the reasons why applications were unsuccessful to tighten up guidelines and save organisations time, among other recommendations. 

Claire Gordon, principal for funder evaluation and learning at NPC and co-author of the report, said: “We know that funders face a difficult challenge in the current environment, where budgets are limited and there are many competing demands. We hope that this guide will help them use evidence to navigate a way forward, grounded in equity and justice.

“We don’t believe it’s an either-or choice between trust and rigour. It’s about asking the right questions which can help you learn and evolve, and seeking out the most meaningful evidence.”

The full guide can be found here.