(5 minute read)
Published: 30 October 2025
Written by: Alice Thornton, Head of Research and Impact
This blog marks an important moment for us, as we are very excited to share John Ellerman Foundation’s new Impact Framework for 2025 to 2030 which is available to read by clicking here on our website. We recognise that all of our decisions and actions as a Foundation have consequence – not just our grants – and so we work hard to understand our impact holistically across our investments, grantmaking and operations. We hope that this Impact Framework will help us to do just that, and that it will provide inspiration to other charitable foundations too.
Since the launch of our strategy for 2025-30, which can be accessed by clicking here, we have been working to develop a new Impact Framework to help us understand our progress in achieving the new strategic aims we have set ourselves. It felt important to build on the progress that we made in developing our first Impact Framework under our previous strategy for 2022 to 2025, and take into account the changes to our grantmaking and investing that we have made since then. If you are interested in what we learned during our previous strategic period, you can read our ‘Strategy 2022 to 2025: Summary Report’ by clicking here on our website.
There is no expectation that our grant-holders should have to use this Impact Framework. It is designed to help our staff and Trustees to understand the Foundation’s work and contribution – not to monitor or claim credit for the work of others.
What do we mean by ‘impact’?
We find the Association of Charitable Foundations’ (ACF) definition of impact helpful:
“ACF defines impact as the positive and negative effects of a foundation’s resources, activities and behaviours, and the extent to which these effects contribute to its charitable mission.”
It feels important to note that the type of impact that we can achieve as an endowed charitable grantmaker is quite different from the type of impact that is achieved by other types of social and environmental sector organisations, such as those we fund through our grantmaking. We are not a direct delivery organisation; we spend most of our working days choosing how to allocate resources to others, rather than delivering projects, campaigns or support services ourselves. Nonetheless, the decisions we make about how to use our resources, our time, our expertise and our voice can make a significant difference overall.
What kind of impact do we have?
As an endowed charitable grantmaker, we have impact through:
a) The use of our money
b) Our time and expertise
c) The effects of these in the long term, which we recognise may not be immediately apparent from our day to day decisions.
Our Impact Framework has been designed to incorporate both the impact of our grantmaking and how we invest our endowment. In line with our strategy for 2025-30, we are committed to delivering our charitable aim with 100% of our assets, which means it is important to consider the impact of our investing just as much as the impact of our grantmaking. Although increasing numbers of Trusts and Foundations are considering the impact of their investment decisions, we still believe it is unusual to design an Impact Framework that incorporates both, and provides the opportunity for a holistic assessment of the Foundation’s impact across all of its main activities. We hope that this will provide some inspiration for others to do the same.
Understanding the principles behind our Impact Framework
Our understanding of impact includes the following beliefs:
- Every choice we make (or don’t make) has an impact.
- Impact can be positive, negative or neutral.
- Impact can be intended or unintended.
- ‘Our’ impact is the direct consequence of our work and decisions – we do not claim credit for the impact of other organisations’ work, though we may have contributed in part by, for example, choosing to provide a grant to fund their activities.
- ‘Our’ impact is not linear nor isolated from other factors, like the actions of others in our sector – therefore it is important to understand the wider context in which our actions play out.
- We recognise the relevance of, and give credence to, all types of information in understanding our impact – including qualitative data and narratives, as well as quantitative data.
- Change can be very long term, and can take decades or multiple generations to play out – the impact of our actions may not be immediately obvious, but this does not necessarily mean that there has been no impact at all.
What kind of information will we consider to help us understand our impact?
Our Impact Framework has been designed to help us consider the impact of our grantmaking by reflecting on what we fund, what we don’t fund, how we fund (i.e. our grantmaking policies and processes), and how these decisions play out in their wider context – for example by interacting with the funding decisions made by other Trusts and Foundations.
Likewise, the Impact Framework helps us to consider the impact of our investing by reflect on what we are invested in, what we don’t invest in, how we invest (i.e. our Investment Policy and practices), and how these decisions play out in their wider context.
Our Impact Framework also helps us to consider the impact of how we use our time and expertise. This includes reflecting on the impact of our engagement activities as an investor (for example, engaging with our fund managers to influence their voting practices), on the impact of our partnerships (for example, with other like-minded investors), and on the impact of how we use our voice to influence others in the wider investment industry. Likewise, we will also consider the impact of the support we provide to our grant-holders other than money, where applicable; the impact of our partnerships with other grantmakers; and the use of our voice to influence others in the social sector, including policymakers.
How will we share updates about our impact?
We intend to publish an annual research and reflection piece, which draws together all of the evidence and perspectives we have gathered about our impact as an organisation in the previous year, as well as external evidence to consider our progress in the wider context.
We hope that our Impact Framework and associated reporting will help us to:
- Consider how far we have been able to deliver against our aim to advance wellbeing for people, society and the natural world across our investing, grantmaking and wider operations, and the value we have been able to add.
- Evolve and respond to our learning from implementing the strategy over a five year period, alongside the changing operating context between 2025 and 2030.
- Support greater connections and influence between those we work with, especially across our grantmaking and investing, to advocate for the causes we care about with those that have influence and power.
- Ensure those working with us have a clear understanding on what it is that we care about and why, and this enables them to take informed decisions on working with us – this applies to applicants, grant-holders, fellow funders and investors, and policy and decision makers.
- Enable those we work with to make impact and secure the change they want to make, with support from us – and that we are able to use this to generate learning and evidence on the role that funders can play in delivering change.
We’re looking forward to sharing more as we understand more about our impact in the coming years. Please do get in touch if you have any questions or feedback about our new Impact Framework.