Behind Closed Doors: What Grantmakers' meetings are really like

Welcome to the Secret Grantmaker, published by Lime Green Consulting. These blogs are designed to give fundraisers and charity folk insights from "the other side", cloaked in anonymity.

The Secret Grantmaker has spent six years working with various funders. They've been privy to countless discussions with the people who make the decisions and hold the purse strings. Their experience in no way reflects trusts and foundations as a whole – there’s a huge variety of practice in the sector. We merely want to give some warts-and-all access to the processes and practice that rarely get aired in public.

So, without further ado, over to the Secret Grantmaker...

​​First up, I wanted to speak to the apex of the world of Trusts: the Committee meeting

Generally, these are where decisions are finalised and minuted. These minutes rarely escape the building, only to be seen by Grants teams and the occasional auditor (there are of course exceptions, such as the excellent City Bridge Foundation, where you can attend meetings and access their minutes).

These meetings are often held in surroundings incongruous with the subject matter discussed, which only adds to their surreal nature. At one funder, the meetings were followed by a lavish three course meal with drinks.

​In theory, most of the work has been done before the meeting; these gatherings are the final scrutiny and sign-off for the release of the funding.

So what happens before a committee meeting?

The pre-meeting processes are generally a variant on a theme. Applications come in, Grants Managers (GMs) assess them against the organisation/fund criteria to make recommendations to the Committee. Any contentious or particularly large grants will generally be discussed with the Chair before the meeting.

​Sometimes the grants which are ‘recommended for decline’ will be simply listed, sometimes they will have the same level of detail as those ‘recommended for approval’. GMs will produce one-to-two page summaries, including a brief introduction to the organisation, key financials, where the money will go and commentary/recommendations.

So far, so good: the process is generally as you would expect. 

What the Committee sees is the tip of the iceberg of the GMs, who would have checked, read, and written much more only to be distilled into a couple of pages. In my experience, the percentage of these documents actually read before the meeting is variable, and sadly lower than you’d expect.

GMs have to accept this and be ready to have a clear ‘pitch’ for each charity, and to prepare for any likely questions.

And what are the committee meetings actually like?

Committee Members are often families or people who are very familiar with each other, and are often very busy. Often, they will cram a few meetings into one day, with the Grants Committee relegated to the second or third meeting of the day.

GMs go into the meetings prepared to the hilt, with in-depth knowledge of each bid, but they cannot account for Committee members who may have sat in lengthy, tense meetings with patience wearing thin.

This weariness can manifest in various ways; annoyance at perceived jargon terms (‘Theory of Change’ being a particularly contentious term with many trustees), changes of heart, or temporary amnesia of the strategic objectives. In short, the decisions made here are made by humans, who may not be at their best. 

Committee Members generally have a trusted network, many of whom may run or be trustees of charities. I’ve assessed many applications that have no bearing to the strategy, but have been personally recommended, so unless you discover a major issue, the grant will sail through.

One extreme example saw a Committee member attempt to discredit other applications because their personal application was recommended for decline (because it targeted a completely different demographic).

This is rare, but the most asked questions from Committee members (if they have questions) are generally around whether we trust the individual at the helm of the charity. Either that, or "do they really need our money?" if the charity dares to build up anything like a reasonable reserve.

These questions are generally easily answered by GMs, but problems come when the Committee starts diving into how the charity operates or understanding its role; this is when the dreaded "I’ll find out more and get back to you" occurs, leading to more work for a potential decline. 

In saying all of this, generally Committees accept the GMs’ recommendation, especially after a few meetings together building up trust. The key currency in the meetings is trust; effectiveness of a charity is rarely discussed (the Committee is more likely to debate as to whether the organisation is suitable for its funding). If the Chair keeps to the agenda, these meetings can be simple affairs, as recommendations get nodded through.

​The flipside is when a grenade is chucked into a meeting and affairs turn volatile and unpredictable – such as differing personal view, a preference for another charity, or a questioning of strategy – often unravelling months of work from the GMs.

In short, there is only so much the GMs can control, and the reasons for a declination might not be clear cut. Often feedback is euphemistically put to the charity, whereas the real reason is that a Committee member has had a bad experience with that charity or doesn’t think they are ‘worthy of their money’.

So what can charities do with this information?

If I was going to offer one piece of advice, it would be that clarity is key.

Your funding bid is often relayed to trustees second or even third hand, so absolute clarity on the need, issue and your approach is vital. You can provide clarity by using plain language, using a summarising introductory paragraph, using bullet points, and getting a second pair of eyes on the application to ensure the ask is clear (if this isn’t possible, then at least re-reading with the sole purpose of checking whether a reader can understand it first time).

Oh, and make sure that there is nothing that could give the Grants Manager or Committee an easy out: no late accounts, an up to date website, and a clear explanation of reserves is a good start.

​Make the life of a GM easy, and hope the Committee isn’t too tired or upset. Control the controllables and hope for the best. It’s the power balance in action, and unfortunately, it’s the game charities are increasingly forced to play. ​