Five years of Open & Trusting grantmaking: our progress report

Our new report reflects on five years of work to make our grantmaking simpler, fairer and more proportionate.

Foundation Scotland joined IVAR's Open & Trusting grantmaking initiative in 2021. It brings together over 150 UK funders around eight commitments to make grantmaking more transparent, proportionate and rooted in trust.

For us, Open & Trusting has been more than a framework for improving processes. It has made us ask harder questions. Whose needs are our systems designed around? Is every question we ask an applicant, and every piece of information we request, genuinely necessary? Like many funders, some of our practices had built up over years of well-intentioned policy. This work pushed us to step back and examine them properly.

Our new progress report covers what has changed so far, and what we are still working on. Practical developments include simplified application and assessment processes for smaller grants, clearer guidance for applicants, and work to make our reporting and due diligence requirements proportionate and purposeful.

It has also prompted honest conversations about trust and risk, both internally and with our panels and donors. Open & Trusting does not mean removing accountability. It asks funders to consider whether processes designed to provide reassurance can create unnecessary barriers for the organisations applying.

There is no fixed endpoint to this work. Open & Trusting is not a checklist to complete but an ongoing commitment to listening, learning and adapting, so that our grantmaking stays responsive, fair and effective.

Read the full report here. If you have questions about anything in it, contact Conor Cross, Philanthropy Manager: conor@foundationscotland.org.uk.