How we work
We try to keep things straightforward.
We look for good people with good ideas. We listen to organisations that really understand their communities. We ask questions but try not to create unnecessary work. And once we decide to support something, we want to be a constructive partner.
We are willing to support established work, but we are also comfortable taking considered risks on new ideas.
sometimes that means providing a grant. Sometimes it means backing a particular person or role. Sometimes it means introducing people who should know each other. And increasingly it can mean investing in enterprises where commercial success and social value can reinforce one another.
Choosing where we can help
There are many more worthwhile organisations and individuals than we could ever support.
That means we have to make choices.
We look particularly for situations where our involvement could make a disproportionate difference: an organisation at an important stage of growth, an individual ready for an opportunity, a promising model that needs testing, or a partnership that could unlock something new.
We are not looking for perfection. We value capable people, clear thinking, openness about challenges and a willingness to learn.
Partnership
We rarely achieve anything alone.
Much of our work depends on organisations with deeper expertise, stronger local relationships and greater experience than our own. We value those partnerships and want them to be built on trust, clarity and mutual respect.
We also recognise that funding creates an imbalance in any relationship. We therefore try to be clear about what we expect, proportionate in what we ask for, and open to hearing when we have got something wrong.
What
success
looks like
Success will look different across our work.
Success will look different across our work. It might be a young person building their first viable business. Someone moving into skilled employment. A leader being given the time and support to build an organisation. A church becoming stronger and better able to serve its community. Or an early idea developing into something capable of reaching many more people.
Our ambition is not to become the biggest foundation.
It is to use what we have well – finding the people, organisations and moments where the right support can help something genuinely worthwhile happen.
