Why LCA GivesAF

At LCA we’ve always backed the innovators in the built environment sector and, frankly, over the years I’ve seen a lot of people present to me with what they claim will be the next big thing, only to leave colleagues and I distinctly unimpressed.

Which is why it was so thoroughly refreshing when Mark Shearer reached out to present ActionFunder.

ActionFunder is the AI-driven platform that’s revolutionising grant giving.  It connects organisations that want to make an impact with grass roots community organisations – 17,000 of them in fact and growing – in a quite brilliant way.

It saves 90% of the admin time, while being more transparent, democratic and providing real time data to track impact as well as the social and other content to be able to promote this work.

I was approached with the initial request to help arrange a sector round table.  My response was to refuse that very limited brief and to start a conversation about a much longer-term partnership where we promote ActionFunder to the wider built environment sector.

So why did we do that?

Well, firstly, I was thinking about how LCA would want to use it.

We have a Social Purpose focused around addressing the theme of homelessness, which includes giving £10,000 each year in direct cash donations, as well as volunteering time and other activities.  To do this we need to brainstorm which organisations we know – which inevitably favours the big names or those where we just happen to have a relationship.  We then need to do desk research to find out other organisations with whom we could work and reach out to each of them individually to find out their needs and have a conversation.  That’s a lot of time for our people, but it also takes up a lot of time for the charities themselves having such conversations, most of which lead nowhere.

ActionFunder provides a platform where I can put in my selection criteria – which can be based on any combination of geography, social impact area and funding levels – and immediately receive a long list of suitable charities and community groups, each of whom have already put onto the platform their specific funding requirements and the output that would generate.

It enables us to make a long-list, open that list up to be voted on by our team (or external stakeholders or the public) to select those we wish to support, and for the money to be securely funded through the platform.  Those groups also identify volunteering opportunities – which is important to us.  The social value impact of our funding is then tracked and reported on, and we can follow the progress of those projects through updates and social content which we can promote.

My experience mirrors the data from the charitable sector.  46% of grants cost more to distribute than they are worth.  85% of charitable funding in the UK goes to just 4% of charities.  And over £900m is spent by charities applying for grants that they don’t get.[1]

Now clearly LCA is small beer when it comes to £10,000 a year of funding.  But the ActionFunder process works for any form of corporate giving, and it has other specific use cases for the development community.

Developers can research and localise impact around a development site.  Local Authorities can do the same in a ward or specific area.  And it can also be used extensively as a vehicle to process S106 and other such funding, where recent data showed that across England and Wales, more than £8bn of developer contributions – from Section 106 agreements and the Community Infrastructure Levy – sits in council accounts, unspent.[2]

So, if you are reading this and haven’t yet seen or heard of ActionFunder, take action now!  Go to their website: actionfunder.org.  Take a look at their excellent videos. Or drop me a line personally and I’d be happy to tell you more and to connect you with them.

I’m completely certain that others will have the same reaction that I did – and I’ve seen that already in the meetings that I’ve been a part of.

I give AF.  And I think you should too.

[1] Plinth; Centre for Social Justice; The Law Family Commission on Civil Society.
[2] Home Builders Federation