Recently, a corporate foundation launched a new funding round and proudly shared a stat they seemed genuinely proud of: 11,000 applications received in the last round.
At first glance, it sounds impressive. Look how much interest they generated! But dig a little deeper, and it tells a different story.
Out of those 11,000 applications, just 40 grants were awarded. That’s a 0.36% success rate.
Let’s put that into perspective.
If every one of those applications took just 3 hours to complete, (and we think that’s a very conservative estimate) that’s 33,000 hours of charity time. That’s more than 3.75 years of collective effort poured into a process where 99.6% of applicants walked away with nothing.
Now think about the real cost. That’s hundreds of thousands of pounds’ worth of staff time. Energy. Hope. Stress. Burnout.
And for what?
It’s time to rethink what “successful” looks like
We understand that funders can’t give to everyone. We understand that demand is high and resources are limited. But if your process attracts 11,000 applications and funds just 40, and you’re using that number as a sign of impact, something’s gone wrong.
It doesn’t mean you’re generous. It means your process may be inefficient, opaque, or misleading. Charities aren’t applying for fun. They’re applying because they need to, and because they’ve been led to believe they might have a chance.
At Fundin, we see the fallout of this every day. Charities spending hours chasing tiny pots of money with very little information about their real chances. Applying for funding is resource-intensive. For small teams, it’s often a choice between doing the work and funding the work. And all too often, the work suffers.
Better for funders. Better for charities. Better for everyone.
We’re not here just to criticise. We’re here to help fix it.
At Fundin, we use AI to:
- Help charities identify realistic funding options before they sink hours into a bid.
- Cut down the admin that slows teams down.
- Increase transparency around funder priorities and eligibility.
- Reduce waste on both sides of the table, applicants and funders.
This isn’t just about technology. It’s about respect. Respect for the time, skill, and effort it takes to write a funding bid, and for the frontline work that gets delayed when charities are stuck at their desks writing yet another one.
A call to funders: fewer applications should be the goal
We’d love to see a funder proudly post, “We halved our applications this year, because we were clearer about who should apply, and better at signposting before the application stage.”
That’s something to celebrate.
Until then, we’ll keep building tools to make funding more efficient, equitable, and honest. Because 11,000 applications shouldn’t be a badge of honour. It should be a wake-up call.
