UK grants worth billions made visible in interactive online report

Posted on 24 Jul 2024

By Matthew Schulz, journalist, SmartyGrants

Binoculars Woman i Stock 105940645 — The UKGrantmaking 2024 report provides much greater transparency and visibility of grants.

A “definitive” publication about grant funding in the United Kingdom has collated data and insights on more than £20 billion ($A38.6 billion) in spending in an impressive visual form.

According to the interactive UKGrantmaking 2024 report on funding in the previous year:

there were more than 13,000 grantmakers in the UK in 2023
the majority of funders distributed less than £1 million ($A1.9 million)
spending by lotteries and government departments has dropped significantly
the largest 300 foundation grantmakers increased spending by 3% (in real terms)
universities were the largest grant recipients (32% of spending), followed by registered charities (22% of spending)
education, poverty, disability, community development and health were among the areas that attracted the most spending.

UK Grantmaking Regranting — Data from the UKGrantmaking 2024 interactive shows funds made available for redistribution.

The UKGrantmaking project represents a collaboration between major funders, coordinated by 360 Giving, which collated data from a range of sources, including organisations and statutory reports.

Grantmakers uploaded data to an interactive platform featuring visualisations and tables, and it can be downloaded by viewers.

UK Grantmaking Interactive — A snapshot of the kinds of grantmakers in the UK. Tap to access the interactive.

Visitors can view the data “sliced and diced” in a number of ways, including by grantmaker and recipient types, the communities served, and grant spending themes.

Previous in-depth grant reports over several years have culminated in the latest interactive system, which 360 Giving hopes will generate further insights as the data is updated annually.

The project employs the 360 Giving standard which aims for a uniform and consistent way of describing grantmaking data. Organisations using the standard employ consistent formatting, to enable data to be read on different applications.

The report is aimed at funders, sector bodies, policymakers, researchers, fundraisers and the media.

SmartyGrants executive director Kathy Richardson – who is currently based in the UK – hailed the “extraordinary cross-sector collaboration for having the vision, gumption and smarts to deliver such a world-leading grants data initiative”.