Below the radar: Exploring grants data for grassroots organisations (August 2020)
This paper uses the 360Giving dataset to find and explore grassroots non-profit organisations operating at the local community or neighbourhood level. Such organisations are vital to UK civil society but often fall ‘below the radar’, and have previously been under-represented in research and statistics.
Key Findings:
The results of the research show a rich and thriving sector of informal grassroots organisations operating below the usual regulatory and administrative radars. The research found nearly 13,000 organisations that received grants between 2016 and 2019.
The results show that £80m in grants went to below-the-radar organisations, of which £58m was from the NLCF. Outside of the NLCF, half of all the grants received by below-the-radar organisations are for less than £2,000.
Arts and culture, education and training, and green spaces were the top three funded types of ‘below the radar’ organisations, while the most common types of activity funded were events and building work.
The report notes that the figure above is likely to be much higher because the research only uses data from grant makers that contribute to the 360Giving dataset.
