Robbie Cowbury shares his top tips for trusts and foundations to deliver the best service they can for beneficiaries

Having worked in charities all my life, I know it’s not easy – especially as many are seeing demand for their services rise while facing budget cuts. Yet working with the Garfield Weston Foundation over the last two years to launch the Weston Charity Awards, I’ve come to realise it’s not that easy being a foundation either. So what can trusts and foundations do to make both their lives, and their grantees’ lives, easier? 

1) Recognise, and respect, your position of power

In the grant maker – grant receiver relationship, the power is inevitably with the grant maker. Keeping this in mind reduces the chances of it being abused, and helps charities with the relationship. 

The flipside is recognising where charities have expertise that you don’t – notably, in their knowledge of the end user, local environment and service delivery. In the Pilotlight model, the charity is always the final authority on these areas. This is recognised in both the Pilotlight and the Weston Charity Award application form with a very simple set of questions, allowing the charity to present themselves on their own terms and not just fit into our schema.

2) Be accessible and approachable

There is nothing harder for charities than not knowing where to start. I can imagine the possibility of being inundated by phone calls can be a difficult one for trusts and foundations to manage, especially when they have a small team, but for charities being able to pick up the phone and discuss an idea before applying without being prejudiced is imperative. 

We also found that going out and visiting applicant charities really informed our understanding when it came to the awards and helped us decide whether they would benefit.

3) Fund 'statutory provision'

A number of charities Pilotlight work with find themselves excluded from accessing grants because the service they are providing 'should be covered by statutory funds'. If only this were true. The time has come to acknowledge that in the next five years at least, the situation isn't going to change. If we believe activities such as advice or advocacy are worthwhile, foundations need to fund them.

4) Give more than just grants

This isn't to take away from the benefit of cold hard cash (which is still the single biggest thing charities want and value). However, it sometimes feels foundations have much more that they could offer charities, and that they could be more innovative in their approach. 

Funding plus strategic support and coaching obviously plays into Pilotlight's model, but the Garfield Weston Foundation has also brought a lot to the table by getting press attention for their award winners, celebrating them individually, and bringing them together to share ideas. So while funding is important, it is also worth considering what else a charity might need.

Increasingly, this idea seems to be gathering ground. The Big Potential Fund, an investment-readiness programme led by The Big Lottery, is another example. The models seem to be working well, and funders should continue to build on these.

5) Work together

The biggest thing you can do to help charities may be to talk to each other and be leaders. Through collaboration, you have the power to shape the sector, and to improve practice and solve problems. 

So much could come out of this: unified measurement systems, pooled application pots, public and policy level campaigning, or strategically distributed areas of focus. As a foundation, you have more than just the money to do this; you also have the trust, the perspective and the profile. Please use it!

Robbie Cowbury is a project manager at Pilotlight, and is part of the team looking after the Weston Charity Awards