At the Berkeley Foundation, we’re committed to supporting a more resilient voluntary sector. We know that unrestricted funding can support charity resilience by enabling organisations to quickly and effectively allocate resources to where they are most needed.
25% of all our grant funding is unrestricted. Our local community partners also receive 100% unrestricted funds raised by Berkeley staff, and we match staff fundraising, GAYE donations and volunteering time in support of our charity partners with unrestricted donations.
In 2025/26 our charity partners received a total of £1,478,240 in unrestricted funding through these routes, 45% of our total funding for the year.
Last year, we asked our charity partners to estimate how they had allocated unrestricted funding from the Berkeley Foundation and tell us what impact this funding had on their organisation.
Key Learnings
-
Existing staff and service provision remains the priority – There is a strong trend among our partners to allocate unrestricted funding to what they know and do best – provision of high-quality services delivered by trusted staff that meet the needs of their communities.
-
Smaller organisations use unrestricted funds more diversely – We have seen a more varied allocation of funding across some of our smaller partners, possibly suggesting that unrestricted grants enable agility and innovation in smaller organisations.
-
Unrestricted funding is rarely used to address organisational development needs – We are seeing organisations prioritise frontline delivery over internal development needs – possibly because the pressure to serve communities is so intense that there is limited bandwidth for investment in people, leadership and infrastructure.
Ultimately, unrestricted funding is strengthening our long-term, trusted partnership approach. It gives our charity partners the power and flexibility to allocate money where it is most needed and plays a fundamental role in future-proofing organisations.
However, when it comes to supporting charities’ organisational development needs, a mixed economy of funding remains useful. Through delivery of our Resilience Fund over the last five years, we’re learning that restricted investment in organisational development activities, coupled with unrestricted funding, and peer learning and support, enables charities to strengthen their long-term resilience while they continue to deliver vital frontline services.
See our full analysis here. We’re keen to share our learning with our charity partners and the wider sector. If you’d like to chat, we’d love to hear from you.