Every week, Canadian charities spend thousands of hours chasing money they may never receive.

They fill out long forms, tailor proposals, compile budgets, and attach audited financials, only to repeat the process for a different funder the following month. It’s a cycle of effort and uncertainty, and it’s not because charities are inefficient. It’s because the system demands it.

Recent data from Carleton University’s Charity Insights Canada Project highlights the scale of the problem:

• Only 27% of charities report a grant success rate over 75%.
• One in five succeed less than 25% of the time, or not at all.
• 14% didn’t apply for grants at all, often due to lack of staff time.
  

These are not edge cases. They reflect a system where effort does not equal reward, and where many are effectively shut out.

The Capacity Gap

Most charities are under-resourced when it comes to fundraising.

Sixty percent have no dedicated grant writer. In many cases, the task is shared among staff or not done at all. Only 13% have a full-time employee focused on fundraising. Just 4% rely on consultants for help.

• 44% spend 5–15 hours preparing each grant.
• 24% spend 16–30 hours.
• 8% spend more than 30 hours per grant.

That’s hundreds of hours a year per organization—often for uncertain results. At the lowest end, we estimate it’s $50 billion dollars.

A System Under Pressure

The past two years have only made things worse. Thirty-five percent of charities say securing grants has become more difficult.

Leaders are feeling it:

“It is a difficult tipping point. You need the resources to build future resources—and yet it’s so difficult to sustain these critical development initiatives.”

“More competition, fewer grants focused on our area… AI makes it easy to mass produce applications, and we’re being drowned out.”

“We do a ton of work, then get no response or explanation of why we didn’t receive funding.”

“We’re told our application wasn’t the problem—there just wasn’t any money left.”

“As we grow, we become less appealing. We’re too big for grassroots funding, too small for major philanthropy.”

“Smaller charities have to jump through multiple hoops—many of them invisible.”

“It’s a brutal paradox. You need funding to afford a grant writer—but you need a grant writer to secure funding.”

This is the reality for many organizations. It’s not just the unlucky few—it’s systemic.

The Fundraising Paradox

The current model favors charities with time, talent, and networks. It leaves behind those who don’t have the staff to write a polished proposal or attend the right events.

Smaller and equity-seeking organizations are especially at a disadvantage. The quality of their work often isn’t reflected in their fundraising outcomes.

You need funding to afford a grant writer. But you need a grant writer to secure funding. That’s the paradox.

Building a Better Path

At WellFunded, we believe generosity deserves better.

We’re building a future for informed and inspired giving—where charities create one Portrait, update it as needed, and spend their energy on impact, not paperwork. Due Diligence is centralized through WellCheck, and soon our connection tool WellConnect will streamline the application process.

We envision a sector where:

• Generosity isn’t gamified by guilt.
• The Fundraising Industrial Machine stops scaling inefficiency.
• Funders and charities collaborate to reduce duplication, increase equity, and improve effectiveness.

Until we fix the system, we’re just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

It’s time to move from competition to connection.

Let’s stop asking charities to jump through out hoops and start building systems that prove we value their work.

You can read the full Carleton report here.

– Jeff
Co-Founder of WellFunded

Jeff is the co-founder and CEO of WellFunded, a platform transforming philanthropy by simplifying how donors and charities discover, evaluate, and connect. He’s previously led charities, helped build a national online Donor-Advised Fund platform, and advised foundations across Canada. Offscreen, he splits his time between meaningful work, big ideas, and chasing his two kids around the pacific northwest.