The unique problems that the pandemic presented were overcome with innovation, agility and ingenuity. We’ve seen local charities and community organisations meet the need in ways that would have seemed out of the question a year ago. As in every other sector, going digital has had its perks. Local charities have seen increased engagement; more people have been able to access support and in certain cases there has been a wholesale overhaul of service delivery.

Rather than just focussing on short-term, transactional funding for project delivery, we should instead be looking at where we can provide longer-term support for what has been proven to work. Forcing local charities to reinvent the wheel to access funding serves no-one.

When we ask our network what they would like to see more of, core funding is always top of the list. The demand across the sector for core funding has always been there, but the supply hasn’t matched it. It’s key that this isn’t forgotten about and we will keep banging the drum for core funding wherever we can. Giving charities the freedom to spend funding where and when it is most needed ultimately serves the people and places that benefit most from the work they do.

Teamwork makes the dreamwork. The pandemic has taken funder collaboration to a whole new level. We’ve seen some fantastic examples of funders introducing one-stop portals for applications and pooling resources; many of these have involved community foundations.

Extending deadlines, repurposing existing grants, non-restrictive criteria, non-onerous reporting requirements and simplified application processes are all elements of good grant-making practice that are easily within our power to get right. As funders we need to take the administrative burden off the organisations we support and do all we can to ensure that our processes aren’t a barrier to them going out and delivering the services that communities desperately need right now.

Local charities and community organisations have been creative in their service delivery throughout the pandemic; funders should be thinking laterally about how they can meet the needs of the sector. There’s so much work that can be supported that builds resilience and capacity in local organisations to deliver the services that communities rely on.