What are the charity research support funds?
The Charity Research Support Fund (CRSF) was announced by the government in 2004 in the Science and Innovation Investment Framework 2004-2014 (paragraph 1.16, 1.41, 3.31-3.37) and came into existence in 2006-07. The fund supports charity research funding in England and is distributed by HEFCE.
Equivalent funds were introduced in Scotland (administered by the Scottish Funding Council), Wales (HEFCW) and Northern Ireland (Department for Employment and Learning).
Why does charity research need support?
Research is funded through the dual-support system where research funders, including research councils and charities, provide grants directly for specific projects and programmes of research within a university or institution. At the same time, the UK’s funding councils provide block grants to support the university or institution itself and its research infrastructure as a whole. Together these two sources of funding cover the full economic costs of the research.
In 2004 (Science & Innovation Framework 2004-2014) the government announced a goal to move towards research councils covering the full economic costs of the research they fund rather than relying on a block grant to cover the indirect infrastructure costs incurred such as access to library services, HR services etc. The government provided extra funding to research councils to make these extra payments – currently enough for research councils to fund 80% of full economic costs but this is intended to eventually rise to 100%.
AMRC and its member charities have a long-held policy of not paying these indirect costs – the mission of charities is to fund medical research not central overheads. This position was acknowledged and recognised by the government when they established the CRSF to help universities to cover the indirect costs of charity-funded research.
"[There is an]… established convention that research grants paid by charities generally cover only a proportion of the work to be done, with institutions finding the remainder from other funding sources and in particular from HEFCE's quality-related (QR) research funding grant.”
HEFCE circular letter to heads of HEFCE-funded higher education institutions, June 2005
Why is the fund important?
The CRSF enables charities to maximise the impact and returns on their research funding and stay true to their public mission by ensuring their funds are used to support research as opposed to covering university central overheads.
The fund means charity funders can continue to operate on a level playing field with research councils to fund the best research in HEIs.
Who is eligible for charity research support funds?
AMRC guidance on Charity Research Support Fund
October 2009