Shape the Safeguarding Standard for Funders

Every year funders invest billions aimed at achieving positive change, but the impact of this investment is undermined when organisations, through their actions or omissions, cause harm to people or communities.  While funders are increasingly taking action on safeguarding, the impact of these efforts is often undermined by limited, inconsistent or unrealistic expectations, under investment and a tick-box approach to compliance. 

The standard represents an important step towards addressing these challenges by identifying effective practices and promoting greater alignment to maximise the impact of efforts to keep people safe.

Within the sector, there already exists extensive guidance and multiple standards on safeguarding – but none of these address the specific needs of grant making-organisation. As we move forward, our aim isn’t to duplicate existing standards but to  build new guidance that focuses specifically on the actions of funders and how they integrate safeguarding within their grant making practices.

No. The consultation is open to FSC members and other funders across the philanthropic sector. We want feedback from a broad range of funders, including organisations of different sizes, structures, locations and funding priorities. 

Although this consultation is mainly aimed at funders, Accountable Now are leading a separate consultation process with CSOs, survivor led organisations and safeguarding professionals. If you would like to contribute, please contact Bao Han from Accountable Now at baohan@accountablenow.org

You do not need to be a safeguarding expert to take part. We want to understand whether the draft standard is clear, useful and realistic for funders in practice. Your feedback will be valuable if you are involved in any aspect of grant–making. 

We want the consultation to be accessible. If you need the draft standard, survey or consultation materials in another format, contact fsc_info@fundersafeguardingcollaborative.org  

Responses to the survey and comments shared within the consultation workshops will only be accessed and stored by the Funder Safeguarding Collaborative. We only collect personal details (name, email) in order to contact you about the consultation, and sharing this information is optional.

We want feedback on whether the draft standard is clear, relevant, proportionate and practical.  We are not asking for detailed wording changes or line-by-line edits. However, you can tell us if something is unclear, unrealistic or missing. Final wording will be developed after the feedback has been reviewed

We will review the feedback to identify themes and ways to strengthen the standard. This will be discussed by the Co-Creation group of funders and CSOs who will finalise the wording.

We will also use your feedback to develop tools, guidance and training to support the implementation of the standard.

We aim to launch the final standard in Spring 2027.