Grant duration

Most grants were for six months or less

Grant duration is an optional field in the 360Giving Data Standard, and so was not included by all publishers in the dataset. It is only available just less than half (44%) of the grants in the dataset.

Bearing those gaps in mind, the grants that did include a grant duration show that they were generally for short durations - as might be expected given the emergency nature of the funding and the uncertainty about the length of time that charities would need funding for.

77% of grants with a duration in the dataset were for six months or less, with only 19% given for a year or more.

Longer grants were also more likely to be larger. The median size of a grant for up to six months was around £5,000, compared to £10,000 for grants of around a year.

Grant duration by fund

The National Lottery Community Fund (NLCF) offered longer grants

Grant duration also varied between the available funds, with the majority being short-term.

The National Lottery Community Fund was the only funder to offer significant amounts of funding for longer than six months.