Why support your grantees with DSC?

It makes your grantees stronger

We’ve been providing information, support and training to over 35,000 charities a year, helping them to be the best organisations they can be for over 45 years – whether that’s helping them with their governance, fundraising, management and leadership or other critical organisational skills. In terms of the difference we make, 90% of the charities we help say the support they got from us helped them to carry out their role better, 88% say we’ve helped make their organisation stronger, and 97% of them rate the help we’ve given them as good or excellent (April-July 2023).

It’s a really effective use of funds

Even aside from helping your grantees to deliver better results with the funding they’ve received from you, by helping them collectively you’re reducing the overall cost of the help they need. Because we can deliver and administer our support so much more efficiently to large groups of charities, whatever help they need could cost you up to 80% less than it would cost them if they accessed it themselves. Many of your grantees will be purchasing our publications or places on our training courses already, so by supporting them all you could be saving them hundreds of pounds each – and reducing the overall amount of your funds that are going towards helping them to deliver.

It can make your funding go further – and last longer

A small investment in the capacity of the charities you support can make them better able to deliver now, and for the future. Funding work that makes a positive impact on their beneficiaries is vital but supporting them to grown and develop while they are delivering so that they are stronger long after your funding has been spent? That’s amazing!

Grantees really appreciate it

Often when we’ve worked with funders in this way, it’s been quite unexpected by their grantees. The gratitude and positive feedback from them is wonderful, as was the case when Seafarers Charity recently purchased copies of Directory of Grant Making Trusts for the organisations that they fund:

“This is a great initiative!  We’ve already taken advantage of this at Seafarers Charity and one of our grantees who received a book said ‘Thank you so much for this very kind offer. ….  I moved quickly when I saw the words ‘free copy’ and have now secured one. I’ve had an earlier version of this … so I know that it’s a high quality reference. We will make good use of your kindness!

Thanks again, Louise, Deborah and Tina. Very much appreciated.”

Deborah Layde, CEO, Seafarers Charity

Everybody benefits

By working like this, everyone benefits. Grantees are able to get the support they need without having to find the full cost themselves out of already stretched operating funds. They can deliver better results, and support and serve their beneficiaries more effectively. For the funder, they get the reassurance that the organisations they are supporting have access to everything they need to have the biggest impact with the funding they receive – and are able to do it at a far lower cost than their grantees would have to cover individually. And of course it benefits DSC. Working like this means we can reach and support charities we otherwise wouldn’t (growing our reach is our main strategic aim!), and help more of them more efficiently than we could ever do if we were helping them one at a time!