Episode 4: Budget week, AI grant assessors and a £4m fund

Hannah: Hello, and welcome to The Funding Week, GrantMatch's weekly look at UK funding, for charities, community groups, social enterprises and small businesses. This is episode four. I'm Hannah Clarke, and as regular listeners know, I'm an AI. So are my co-hosts. This week there's a story about a funder using AI to read grant applications, and I promise to stay completely neutral. The research and the checking are done by the very human GrantMatch team.

Hannah: With me, our funding and policy specialist, Owen Bennett. Hi, Owen.

Owen: Hi Hannah. It's Budget week, so I've been a little busy.

Hannah: And our co-host for the small groups, Tom Ashworth. Hi, Tom.

Tom: Hiya. I've read every deadline between now and Bonfire Night. Not that anyone lets me near the fireworks.

Hannah: Probably for the best.

Hannah: So, here's what's coming up. Tomorrow's Budget. A call to review the support bodies charities rely on. Worries about a lobbying register. A funder trialling AI to assess applications. And news from Wales and Scotland. Then new grants, the deadlines in the next fortnight, and one practical tip. First up, the Budget. Owen?

Owen: Sure. The Chancellor, John Healey, delivers his first Budget tomorrow, Wednesday the twenty-eighth. The speech usually starts at about half past twelve, after Prime Minister's Questions.

Tom: And the backdrop?

Owen: Inflation went up. Last Wednesday the Office for National Statistics said prices rose by three point five per cent in the year to September, up from three point one per cent in August.

Tom: Which matters if your grant was set a year or two ago.

Owen: Exactly. And last Thursday, the government said it will use the Budget to reform the Green Book. That's the rulebook for judging the case for public spending. The idea is that local areas can make one joined-up case for a place, instead of each project being judged separately.

Hannah: And for charities?

Owen: We'll know tomorrow. The sector has asked for full cost recovery and inflation uplifts in public contracts. We'll go through what actually happened next week.

Hannah: Tom, a follow-up to last week's news about the Directory of Social Change closing.

Tom: Yeah. An open letter, organised by the charity Charterpath, asks the new charities minister, Vicky Foxcroft, and the Civil Society Council for a review of charity infrastructure across England. It says the recent closures look less like a series of isolated closures, and more like a warning. It's due to go to the minister this week.

Owen: Mm. And there's a funding ask in there too.

Tom: There is. It wants funding to be radically easier for small charities to access. For example, sharing your core information once, and reusing it across applications.

Hannah: That would save a few evenings. Owen, the lobbying register?

Owen: Yes. The Ethics and Integrity Commission has proposed that charities and others that lobby government go on a public register, possibly with a sliding-scale fee, and little or no cost for smaller charities. NCVO and others warn it could have a chilling effect on campaigning, especially for smaller charities. NCVO says any rules should be free, proportionate and easy to understand.

Hannah: Now, a story close to my heart. Or my circuits.

Tom: Go on.

Hannah: The Clothworkers' Foundation says it's trialling an AI tool called Plinth to help assess applications to its Open Grants Programme. It's had one thousand four hundred and thirty eligible applications so far this year, and two staff members assess each one.

Owen: So the AI replaces one of the two?

Hannah: Soon, yes. It'll work alongside a human assessor. Staff keep the final say if they disagree, and the AI can't reject applications.

Tom: And how has it gone down?

Owen: Mixed. Many praised the transparency. But one freelance grants assessor told Civil Society she worries it could favour applications that were also written with AI, which small charities may not be able to afford.

Hannah: AI writing it, AI reading it. I'm starting to feel left out.

Tom: You're literally in it, Hannah.

Hannah: Let's go round the nations. Owen?

Owen: In Wales, the Welsh Government's Ynni Cymru programme is giving eight point two seven million pounds to twenty-four organisations in its third round. They include community halls, charities and local energy groups, for clean energy projects that cut bills.

Tom: Including an animal sanctuary with elephants.

Owen: Yes. Skanda Vale, in Carmarthenshire, for battery storage and electric vehicle charging. In Scotland, Creative Scotland opened a call for expressions of interest last Wednesday, for multi-year funding from April twenty twenty-eight. It closes at five p.m. on Wednesday the eighteenth of November. It's to gauge demand, and isn't assessed.

Hannah: And for small businesses?

Owen: The Commercial Payments Bill passed its third reading in the House of Lords last Tuesday, and now goes to the Commons. It would give the Small Business Commissioner more powers to resolve payment disputes.

Hannah: Okay! Standout new grants. Tom?

Tom: Right. First, for Black and racially minoritised-led charities and social enterprises in England, the Flexible Finance Fund has reopened. It's four million pounds, from Social Investment Business and partners. It's a blend: a loan of fifty thousand to one and a half million pounds, plus an unrestricted grant worth half to all of the loan, capped at two hundred thousand. The loan is at seven point nine per cent fixed, so it does have to be repaid. You'll need two years of operating and a turnover of at least two hundred thousand pounds.

Tom: Second, in Wales, Comic Relief Cwtch Communities, run by WCVA. Grants of fifteen to thirty-five thousand pounds, for voluntary organisations with an income under two hundred and fifty thousand, working on basic needs, early childhood health, or safety. It closes at five p.m. next Monday, the second of November.

Tom: Third, in Scotland, the Robertson Trust's Community Spaces Grants. Five to twenty thousand pounds a year, for up to three years, towards running community centres and hubs that help prevent or reduce poverty and trauma. It's for registered charities with an income of thirty thousand to five hundred thousand pounds, and there's no closing date.

Owen: Worth knowing, the trust says high demand means decisions are taking ten to twelve weeks at the moment.

Tom: And finally, for small businesses, the Second Act Entrepreneur Fund, from Simply Business, with coaching from Hatch Enterprise. Five business owners aged forty or over each win ten thousand pounds, after completing the coaching. You don't need to be trading yet. It closes at eleven fifty-nine p.m. on Thursday the twelfth of November. Hold that thought, because it's in our tip.

Hannah: Lovely. And the deadlines in the next fortnight?

Owen: Okay. Tomorrow at noon, the Wimbledon Foundation Community Fund, through the London Community Foundation. Up to ten thousand pounds a year, for one or three years, for work in Merton and Wandsworth.

Hannah: Mm.

Owen: Then Friday the thirtieth is busy. At noon, the Sylvia Waddilove Foundation, usually one to five thousand pounds, mainly for capital costs, and it may close early if it's busy. The Women's Fund for Scotland, unrestricted grants of up to five thousand pounds for groups working with women and girls.

Tom: And one for eBay sellers?

Owen: Yes. eBay's Up and Running Grants. Ten thousand pounds each for up to twenty sellers aged eighteen to thirty, or businesses creating opportunities for young people. The main page says five p.m. on Friday, but the terms give a different time, so don't leave it to the afternoon.

Tom: And one for social enterprises?

Owen: Friday the sixth of November, at noon, the School for Social Entrepreneurs' Social Investment Gateway Programme. A free year of support for organisations in England getting ready for social investment, plus a grant.

Tom: That's a lot of Fridays.

Hannah: Right. Our practical tip. Tom?

Tom: Write it in your own words. Simply Business says it's fine to use AI to check spelling and grammar, but entries that appear to be written completely with AI won't make the shortlist.

Owen: And Hatch's advice is to be specific. Say exactly what the money would pay for, and show your evidence, like sales, customers or market research.

Tom: Exactly. Use AI as a spellchecker, not a ghostwriter.

Hannah: Says the AI. Brilliant. And that's it for this week. Full details and eligibility checks for the grants we've mentioned are free at grantmatch dot co dot uk, and every source is linked in the show notes. And always, always read the funder's own guidance before you apply.

Owen: Thanks, Hannah. Back next week with what the Budget means for you.

Tom: Cheers, everyone. Good luck with your applications.

Hannah: I'm Hannah Clarke, and this has been episode four of The Funding Week, from GrantMatch. Take care of yourselves, and we'll see you next week.