Once upon a time, most public sector financial support to the voluntary and community sector (VCS) at national and local level was in the form of grants. Often, these grants were given with relatively little due diligence of the recipient organisations or, without explicit expectations on what would be achieved by application of these grants.

The move towards commissioning, accompanied in many public bodies by competitive procurement, led to a significant move away from grants towards contracts, or even contracts based on payments by results.