A year like no other

Reflecting on PHF’s UK grant-making in 2020/21

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Introduction

The past year has been unprecedented in so many ways. This review is a chance to share what we have learnt through our UK grant-making in the context of the challenges of Covid-19, and to tell some of the inspiring stories of the organisations and individuals we have supported.

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Our year in numbers

We received 1,231 applications requesting a total of £67 million and made 1,219 final decisions of which 63% were approvals.

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Covid Response Fund

Total number of grants 433

Total value of grants £12.5m

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Main developments

Our grant-making this year

In the emerging crisis, we focussed our efforts on being more responsive: speed was important – getting money out to where it was needed, but so too was our ongoing communication with the organisations and people we fund, to understand the changing impact of the pandemic on the communities they work with. We offered flexibility and simplified our requirements, enabling funding to be repurposed and timelines shifted.

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What we funded

An overview of the grants made

Our open funds in the UK, and the grants awarded through our Covid Response Fund, are closely aligned with the priorities in our strategy.

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1. Emergency grant-making

Schools

2. Investing in young people

Refugee Action

3. Migration and integration

Social inclusion

4. Arts access and participation

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5. Education and learning through the arts

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6. Nurturing ideas and people

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We’re not interested in endings simply for the sake of endings. We’re interested in endings because we believe that a good ending creates conditions for what comes next and for brighter beginnings.

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Looking forward

Looking to the future

PHF is firmly committed to seizing the opportunities of our new ways of working, and not falling back into old habits. Both staff and trustees reflected on this during the review process.

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