Funding Central Service Ends

Preoccupied with the continuing coronavirus doom-and-gloom and the added challenge of low temperatures, snow and rain, you may have missed a sad occurrence at the beginning of this month: NCVO is ending its widely used and appreciated Funding Central service.

This has been a vital lifeline for small charities and their advisers for many years and will be sorely missed.

The good news is that NCVO has handed the service over to Idox with effect from 31 March 2021, when it will be renamed My Funding Central. It will be interesting to see what changes, if any, are made to the service. But it appears from the initial publicity that many fewer charities will be able to access the service. Only those with an income of £1 million or less will be able to subscribe; and only those with an income of under £30,000 will receive the service free.

Although small charities are of course able to access information about funding on the Charity Commission website and via the Directory of Grant Making Trusts (DGMT), NCVO Funding Central has covered funding sources beyond GMTs and provided timely reminders about deadlines, with up-to-date contact details.

We’ll be sorry to see NCVO Funding Central go – and we hope that Idox can continue NCVO’s good work without pricing small charities out of this market.