Grantmaking

Impetus Trust

A pioneering model of venture philanthropy

Since its inception in 2003, Impetus has pioneered venture philanthropy in the UK, adapting a model which had already proven successful in the USA. “The idea came from the two co-founders of Impetus, Stephen Dawson and Nat Sloane, both of whom had a background in venture capitalism,” explains Eela Devani, marketing director at the Impetus Trust. “They met and shared their frustrations of not knowing where to give money or what would happen to it.”

They carried out research among donors, charities and grantmakers, through which it became clear that donors shared their concerns, while charities wanted longer-term funding to build capacity and infrastructure, as well as expertise to assist with growth and sustainability. Suitably encouraged, the pair proceeded to set up the trust, focusing their fundraising efforts on grantmaking trusts and foundations and individuals in the venture capital industry.

In the period from its birth up until to December 2007, the Trust has raised a total of £10.1m, including £3.2m in pro bono expertise for its charities and £1.6m in co-investment. As a result, the average social impact of the Impetus charity portfolio, as measured by the number of people helped, has grown by 66 per cent per annum, with more than 166,000 beneficiaries in 2006-07.

Furthermore, Impetus has recorded an average increase in income of 22 per cent across the seven charities that have been in its portfolio for at least 12 months, six times greater than the charity sector average.

The judges described the Trust’s analysis work as “exemplary” and said it would “push traditional grantmaking into working in different ways, which is excellent.”
 

Eela Devani
Marketing director
Office 1607
16-19 Southampton Place
London
WC1A 2AJ
020 7745 7204
www.impetus.org.uk
Reg no. 172943

City Bridge Trust

Greening the third sector

“When we started making grants 13 years ago, there were very few organisations funding environmental causes. Most tended to go for education or social welfare,” according to the Trust’s chief executive and chief grants officer Clare Thomas MBE. “With the climate change debate increasingly on the agenda, we wanted to advance that, and our research found that the voluntary sector was underdeveloped in this regard.”

The City Bridge Trust works to address disadvantage across London, a city with a history of accumulating wealth, at the cost of pollution and poor health. At the human level, the disadvantages in living conditions fall mainly on the poor, in terms of life expectancy, infant mortality, and respiratory disease. Yet in 1995, barely 4 per cent of charitable giving was to environmental causes. Furthermore, many charitable organisations have themselves been poor corporate citizens in regard to environmentally sustainable practice.

In 1995, what was then known as Bridge House Estates began its environment and conservation. It identified critical gaps in awareness raising, local voluntary action, threats to eco-systems, slow progress of energy and waste reduction schemes, and infrastructure support for environmental networks, and tailored its grants accordingly. Relaunched in 2002 as ‘London’s Environment’, with an increased emphasis on sustainable development and environmental justice, over the course of the past 13 years these programmes have awarded 420 grants to London organisations totalling over £19m.

Meanwhile, in 1998 the Trust embarked upon two years of intensive consultation on how to raise awareness of climate change. The study established the need for a hub dedicated to advancing sustainable development across the Capital, which led to the creation of the London Sustainability Exchange (LSx), which is now an organisation with a proven record in helping Londoners reap the rewards of more sustainable lifestyles and business practices.

The Trust’s most recent initiative has been ‘Greening the Third Sector’. By 2005, it was concerned that that the sector was not up to speed with good environmental practice. Following consultation, a pilot programme of eco-audits was launched, with all 12 organisations that took part making great changes and improvements.

Clare Thomas, MBE
Chief grants officer
PO Box 270
Guildhall
London
EC2P 2EJ
020 7332 3711
www.citybridgetrust.org.uk
Reg no. 1035628

Four Acre Trust

Fostering relationships with grant recipients

Four Acre Trust provides funding to causes offering young people a better start in life, via activities such as respite holidays, activity and training schemes and mentoring, as well as water and eye care projects overseas. Its research indicated that there was a gulf between grantmakers and their recipient charities. With the Trust’s annual giving rising from £0.5m to £2.5m, it wanted to foster a closer, deeper and longer relationship with its recipients.

“We are surprised by the modus operandi of the grantmaking sector,” says trustee John Bothamley, “whereby you graciously say one organisation can have funds and another cannot. We believe that it’s impossible to give money away in a mature and measured way unless you actually know the recipient.”

The solution was to recruit, train and support 20 volunteer field officers to visit, assess and encourage applicant charities. The Trust chose experienced, often retired, professionals to build and maintain the relationships on an entirely pro bono basis, in order to increase the number and quality of repeat grants and refine the process of initial application at minimal cost.

Initial grant applications are screened before being passed to a field officer, who then visits the applicant, before making an assessment and reporting back to the trustees on whether support should be given. Field officers are expected to build and maintain ongoing relationships with applicants to keep track of activity and reporting.

The judges commented that the Trust was small but had achieved “critical innovation”, and had made “an unusually impressive use of volunteers”. Bothamley concludes: “We’re pretty satisfied that we now make a better judgement of each application because an experienced business person has met the applicant and drawn some recommendations.”

John Bothamley
Trustee
Treferanon
St Weonards
Herefordshire
HR2 8QF
01981 580 002
www.fouracretrust.org.uk
Reg no. 1053884

...Back | Top | Print