(2 minute read)
Published: 19 August 2024
Written by: Sufina Ahmad, Director
We are pleased to be able to share our latest Annual Report and Financial Accounts for the 12 months to 31 March 2024.
We also recognise that we are writing this at a time when many of the colleagues we work with are working actively in response to the far right riots that took place earlier this month. However, we felt it was important to share this now, as it serves as a reminder of the potential for the work we do as charitable funders to work in solidarity with the important causes we fund.
This is our second year of using the Annual Report to report on our progress against our strategy for 2022-25. Our current strategy calls on us to deliver our aim to advance wellbeing for people, society and the natural world with 100% of our assets, i.e. our grantmaking, investing and wider operations.
Over the last year, key highlights for the Foundation have included:
- Developing, agreeing and then publishing our Impact Framework, which accompanies our current strategy and speaks to the way in which we define impact in relation to our funding and our investing.
- Publishing an interim statement on our time horizon, as well as developing and publishing our first ever Recruitment and Complaints policies.
- Completing an accessibility audit of our website, with the majority of the changes to the website being implemented by May 2024.
- Commissioning and publishing the findings from our second grant-holder and applicant perception audit, which was completed on our behalf by nfpResearch.
- Launching our inaugural Board Shadowing Scheme, which is aimed at individuals from diverse backgrounds with lived experience of poverty to participate in our governance processes for six months.
- Remaining a collaborative and outward-facing organisation, by actively participating in discussions with other funders and stakeholders across all three of our funding categories and our investing practices, and sharing our views on different topics through articles, blogs, and at conferences.
- Achieving for the second year an A rating (B, A, A for diversity, accountability and transparency respectively) in the Foundation Practice Rating.
- The publication of John Ellerman Foundation: A Historical Review, which shares in full the findings of our research into our history and the origins of our wealth, as well as being a member of the Association of Charitable Foundation’s Origins of Wealth Reference Group.
In a year where we saw a 29% increase in the number of applications received, and nearly double the number of applications compared to 2021/22, it is clear that our applicants and grant-holders are experiencing many pressures. We are humbled by their persistence and resilience. We know that we cannot respond in full to the challenges faced by the sector, but we are committed to doing our bit. In the year ahead we will bring our current strategy to a close and set up our next strategy, which we hope will show our commitment to being a bold, ambitious and collaborative partner to the sector.
If you have any comments or queries about this report, please do get in touch with our Director, Sufina Ahmad.