Finding the Goldilocks Zone: Key Lessons from Our Grants Standardisation Webinar

Grants standardisation is attracting growing attention across the UK and Ireland, and the strong response to SmartyGrants UK’s recent webinar, The Goldilocks Zone: Standardising Grants Without Breaking Your Organisation, showed why.

The session brought together 36 representatives from local government, charitable trusts, foundations and community organisations to explore a challenge facing many funders: how to create greater consistency without introducing unnecessary rigidity and bureaucracy.

Drawing on insights from the new SmartyGrants whitepaper, The Goldilocks Zone: A Practical Guide for Grants Standardisation, the webinar explored how commonsense standardisation could improve efficiency, transparency and accountability across the grantmaking lifecycle.

SmartyGrants grantmaking specialist Josh Presser said standardisation was not about making every programme identical. Instead, grantmakers should identify where consistency could create value and where flexibility remained essential. The most successful approaches balanced both, he said.

Participants heard how standardisation could help funders reduce duplication, improve compliance with government frameworks, and create a more predictable experience for applicants. Consistent data collection could also help organisations identify funding gaps, better understand community needs and make more informed decisions about future investment.

One of the webinar's highlights came from Carla Marshall, Trust Manager at the Sir George Martin Trust and Associate at Yorkshire Funders. Carla shared the development of Yorkshire Funders' Common Application Form and Common Report Form initiatives. These collaborative projects were designed to reduce administrative burden for charities while preserving the relationships and local knowledge that underpin effective grantmaking.

During the discussion, Glasgow City Council shared its experience of using SmartyGrants to rapidly establish the Union Street Fire Fund. Their contribution highlighted the value of having flexible, scalable grantmaking systems in place before a crisis occurs, enabling organisations to respond quickly when communities need support most.

The overarching message was clear: standardisation works best when organisations avoid extremes. Too much rigidity can create red tape; too much flexibility can undermine consistency and accountability.