Taken for granted: our approach to charitable grant giving

Grant giving has been a focal point of our corporate giving strategy for years, but we're always looking to do even more to help our local communities; thinking just a little more strategically can make a huge impact.

Charitable giving in the UK

A 2025 report by the Charities Aid Foundation found that the state of corporate grant-giving in the UK is mixed.

While North East businesses are the most generous when it comes to charitable donations, with 41% of local businesses being more likely to support charities than those from elsewhere, over 75% of British businesses did not support charities at all in the last year. 

The same research suggests that if all of the FTSE 100 businesses gave at least 1% of their pre-tax profits to charity, the sector could receive an extra £3bn in funding. 

Giving is good

Through our ‘Muckle Fund’, which is managed by the Community Foundation North East, we have donated 1% of our profits every year since 2002. In that time, we have awarded 745 grants totalling £721,000 to charities, community groups, and not-for-profit organisations.

Hugh Welch, senior partner at Muckle and head of our ESG strategy, is proud of this figure: “We’ve given 1% of our profits to charitable causes for years; not because we have to, but because we think it’s the right thing to do. We are very fortunate to be in a position where we’re able to give financially and support our local community.”

So, how would a business start?

Choose your cause(s)

With over 170,000 (and counting) charities in the UK alone, it can be tricky to decide which charities to support. Anthony Evans, managing partner at Muckle, suggests considering what’s important to your business and supporting charities that align with your core values: “For many years, we have focused our grant giving on charities operating in three key areas chosen in consultation with our people. These are supporting young people, overcoming disadvantage, and improving social mobility. 

“Where possible, we also aim to prioritise supporting smaller charities based in the North East and Cumbria, the main geographical areas that we work in.”

Consider regular giving

Ask any charitable organisation, and they will tell you that while any giving is greatly appreciated, regular, consistent giving is preferable to one-off donations. This is because it provides a more predictable income stream, allowing charities to plan further ahead and ensuring every penny is put to the best possible use.

What’s more, if the giving is unrestricted – meaning that charities can choose exactly what to use the funding for – this helps charities make the best use of those funds. 

For Muckle, this regular giving takes the form of ‘follow-on funding’. One of the charities that has seen the impact of follow-on funding is the Country Trust, a national education charity that connects children from areas of high disadvantage with the land.

Since Muckle’s first donation of £500 in 2019, the charity has received nearly £20,000 worth of grants over the last three years.

But we haven't stopped giving ad-hoc grants, as Hugh explains: “In the earlier years of our Muckle Fund, we mainly made smaller, one-off grants. Now, alongside our follow-on funding initiative, we still make ad hoc grants in response to funding requests from our people.

"For example, we’ve given Mortal Fools – a local theatre, drama, and creative learning charity – grants totalling £9,800 from 2023-2025 following an initial grant request from one of our people. We also offer boost-funding if a colleague is raising money for charity through activities such as sponsored walks.”

Think about alternate support

It’s not just financial support that businesses can offer charities; giving time is another powerful way to help. For us, this has three forms: volunteering, taking on trustee roles and providing pro bono (free) legal advice. 

Anthony credits grant giving as the foundation for many of these opportunities: “Our grant giving has helped us connect with so many organisations. What starts as a one-off grant often develops into a long-term relationship between Muckle and the charitable organisation, which creates even more opportunities for us to support.

"We are especially proud to have increased our total firm volunteering time to 1,616 hours in the last year – an increase of 6% – and are looking to further build on this in the coming years”. 

B-ing better

Any strategy is, by nature, a work in progress, and corporate giving is no different. Hugh believes that becoming part of the B Corp movement can give businesses all the tools needed for continuous improvement: “Becoming B Corp certified™ has given us a clear framework of how we can continue to improve and make meaningful progress. It’s a reminder that responsible business is an ongoing commitment and one that becomes even more powerful when shared with like-minded organisations.”

Learn more about our B Corp journey.