Take five minutes to give government your two bits about grants!

Civil Society Strategy – what’s it all about?

Tracey Crouch MP, the Civil Society Minister, announced a consultation on a new Civil Society Strategy. This will run until 22 May 2018. The final strategy is intended to shape policy for civil society for 10+ years! (we’ll see). But government is in listening mode.

One big topic that affects you and the whole UK voluntary sector is: the demise of government grants. If enough people make the case, they just might listen.

Why grants?

Grant funding from government is essential for communities to thrive, putting people at the heart of everything. Over the last decade, however, this vital resource has been rapidly disappearing, replaced by more restrictive and inflexible contracts. The voluntary sector receives government grants worth £2.9bn. This is only 5% of government’s £57.4bn spend on grants and subsidies. A decline of over 60% since 2004. At the current rate of decline, grants could all but disappear by 2020.

DSC is part of the Grants for Good campaign, whose aim is to reverse the trend of declining grants. We think grants have many advantages and can deliver better outcomes for people  – especially when supporting smaller charities and community groups.

How can I let government know about this topic?

The ongoing online consultation is a chance to make a statement about grants. We’ve prepared a short text that reflects the key arguments to make it super-easy for busy charity folks!

Take these three easy steps

1. Go to the online submission form
2. Follow the steps outlined in the toolkit (you can find the toolkit here)
3. Copy paste the text we have prepared into the online form

SUBMIT – DONE

You can find the toolkit_here. Share it with others. The more submissions the merrier!