Trusts and foundations are exercising more caution in how they manage the risks associated with grant making, and giving greater scrutiny to the financial viability of grant applications, according to a new report by the Charity Commission. Entitled ‘Firm Foundations’, the report provides a snapshot of how trusts and foundations are responding to the economic downturn. It reveals that more flexible approaches to funding are being taken, with some of those that usually fund only project costs now giving some support for core costs. However, of the 19 trusts and foundations interviewed, none had any plans to create funds for down-turn hit organisations and there was little enthusiasm for emergency funding to support “ailing and failing” organisations. The majority of trusts and foundations interviewed reported only small decreases in their own incomes since September 2008, and this has in general not affected their grant-making programmes, levels of funding for which are generally being sustained.
