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Grants - great in theory, but in practice....?

ended 21. March 2026

Many small businesses and charities assume that grants are a realistic way to fund their work. In reality, securing one is far more complex than people realise – and can prove costly. And in some cases, the firms applying for grants on your behalf either charge you a fixed fee or a % of the grant secured.

Meanwhile, many grants require organisations to demonstrate proven impact, clear financial structures and the ability to deliver measurable outcomes. Early-stage businesses and smaller charities often lack the time, resources or specialist knowledge needed to meet these requirements, even when their work is valuable.

This creates a difficult gap. Start-ups that need support to grow are often too early to qualify, while charities doing vital work can spend months on applications with no guarantee of success.

  • Have you ever applied for a grant? If so, were you successful and how much, if anything, did it cost you?
  • What was your experience of the whole grants process? Easy and quick to secure funds, or a veritable slog and expensive?
  • Do you believe grants are still a viable option, or that the current system unintentionally favours those who already have resources and support in place?
  • Are there any companies that you would recommend (or the polar opposite) in the grants space?

Any other thoughts, send them across by tomorrow at 09:00.

3 responses from the Newspage community

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Christine Charitonos
Founder at What Does Not
I’ve applied for Arts Council funding and was eventually successful, but only after being rejected twice on technicalities, which tells you a lot about the system. Grants are sold as support for small organisations, but the process often feels like an admin endurance test designed by people with a deep love of portals from 2007. It’s slow, archaic and brutally time-hungry. A small business that needs funding can’t afford to spend a month wrestling one application, and not everyone can fork out for a grant writer. Grants are still viable, but too often they reward the organisations that already have time, infrastructure and specialist help, not the ones who need the support most.
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Nouran Moustafa
Practice Principal & IFA at Roxton Wealth
I think grants are one of those things that sound far more accessible than they actually are. On paper, they look like a lifeline for small businesses and charities. In reality, they often favour the people who already have the time, structure, language and support to play the game properly. That is the frustrating part. The organisations that need funding most are often the ones least equipped to spend months producing polished applications, impact reports and measurable outcomes just to maybe get a yes.For many early-stage businesses and smaller charities, the process can become a drain on time, energy and money, especially where third parties are charging fixed fees or taking a percentage of whatever is secured. That can be a real risk, because when funding is already tight, every pound matters.So yes, grants are still viable in some cases, but I do think the system unintentionally rewards polish over potential.
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Taryn Lee Johnston
Owner at The FCM Group
I’m currently building a digital platform in the creative and AI space, and I’ve applied for multiple grants as both a tech start-up and a female founder. The reality is there are too few opportunities, and the process is unnecessarily complex.

You can spend weeks on an application only to be rejected over minor wording, or shifting criteria that were never clear to begin with. It becomes exhausting and inefficient, especially when you’re trying to build a business at the same time.

On top of that, there’s a growing number of firms offering to write grant applications for you, but they charge fees that most early-stage founders simply can’t afford, often upfront. If you already had that kind of money available, you probably wouldn’t need the grant in the first place.

The system ends up favouring those with existing resources, rather than the people who genuinely need support to get started.