Since 2014, we have been on an ambitious journey to offer additional developmental support to strengthen our charities – “funder plus”. We have commissioned, funded and delivered support in partnership with over 100 independent local consultants and providers – piloting, evaluating and testing new ways of working.

This report shares our learning, drawing on independent evaluations of our work, as well as our own grant monitoring and feedback to help us understand what works and where we can improve our offer for the charities we support. By sharing these insights we hope to inform, shape and encourage good practice, as we strive to support charities to be stronger, more sustainable and effective.

Drawing on independent evaluations from the Institute for Voluntary Action (IVAR), Resonance and Professor Tony Chapman of Durham University, the report outlines five key lessons from our work. These lessons cover the importance of building trust in the grant-maker, grantee relationship, the importance of successful diagnostics, the need to empower grantees to make choices around the support they receive and the need to invest and build knowledge in both charity leaders and the organisations more widely.

In this report, we also set out three wider challenges for funders and development support providers to take forward: improving evaluation; joining up funding and support, including supporting existing infrastructure; and building a strong market of providers of support, driving up performance and marginalising poorer providers.