Pushing forwards
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. There is an ambition to use the experience of the last year as a catalyst to push forward, maintaining helpful funder behaviours and practices like greater flexibility and more streamlined processes.
Building closer relationships
As an organisation we are now thinking more critically and creatively about our aim to be more of a ‘relational’ funder, and how we can use what we have learnt over the past year to open ourselves up more to those outside our usual networks, build greater trust and sustain more open communications in our relationships.
We know that we need to make sure we are designing our approaches with applicants, funded organisations and partners to ensure that any innovations are properly tested and seek feedback to better understand whether we are achieving our aims. Within the coming year we intend to recommission the Center for Effective Philanthropy to run their Applicant and Grantee Perception Surveys to support our understanding of how the changes we have made are being experienced.
There is an ambition to use the experience of the last year as a catalyst to push forward, maintaining helpful funder behaviours and practices like greater flexibility and more streamlined processes.
Our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion
The most critical piece of work for the coming year is developing and improving our approach to becoming an anti-racist funder, both in our grant-making and more broadly. As part of this process we must ensure we are centring the perspectives of those with lived experiences of racism, structural inequality and other forms of discrimination. This is going to be complex and sensitive work, and we approach it with humility, recognising the critical importance of opening ourselves up and committing to ambitious change.
We have funded some exceptional organisations and pioneers who are pushing forward the broader discourse about anti-racism, de-colonisation, equity and inclusion, particularly over the past year. We recognise that our main lever for social change is through the grants we make so we will also be looking to ensure that our funding is continuing to support this work in our key sectors of interest and in broader society.
To ensure we are applying an anti-racist lens to our UK grant-making, we will be monitoring the extent to which we are supporting work led by leaders with lived experience of racism and funding work on racial justice. We commit to being transparent about how we are doing and being open – inviting discussion, critique and feedback to ensure that our work is informed by others’ experiences and in the hope we can contribute to broader shifts in the funding community.
Cross-cutting issues
During the coming year we will also be paying more attention to the themes identified in our strategy that relate to our social justice mission, particularly the climate emergency and ambition to strengthen civil society, and thinking about how we can contribute to these issues constructively using all the tools at our disposal.
We have funded some exceptional organisations and pioneers who are pushing forward the broader discourse about anti-racism, de-colonisation, equity and inclusion, particularly over the past year.
