# New grants system at the Community Fund

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2003/11/24/new-grants-system-community-fund/
- Published: 2003-11-24T00:00:00+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

The Community Fund has announced details of its new “outcomes-based” application
system, which is to be piloted in Scotland

 

from January 2004 and, if successful, extended to the whole of the UK later in the
year.
The move was welcomed by the Directory of Social Change, which said that the
old ‘scored’ system, “while excellent in its day, has become a bit ossified over
time.”

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However, the voluntary sector publisher and training company added that it was concerned
that the new system might breed an over-zealous emphasis on “measurable short

 

term outcomes” and thereby disadvantage projects whose outcomes are soft, varied

 

or long term.

 

 

It therefore recommends that the key elements of the new system should be:

 

 

 * Just two new criteria will replace the existing seven, covering:
    - What difference will the project make to the lives of disadvantaged
       people?
      and …
    - How likely is the applicant to make that difference happen?
 *  
 * There will be a two stage application system, with an opportunity for discussion,
   delay and even negotiation after submission of a brief outline proposal.
 *  
 * If the outline proposal is judged weak, applicants will not have an opportunity
   to submit a full proposal.
 *  
 * The application will ask applicants, and may require them, to offer “short
 *  
 * term measurable outcomes” for their project (as is already the case for international
   grants).
 *  

 

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