Charity Commission to explore foundations’ response to recession

The Charity Commission has commissioned research to explore how trusts and foundations are reacting to the recession and the impact this has had on charities that they fund.

The research will be carried out by Professor Diana Leat, formerly director of the creative philanthropy programme at Carnegie UK Trust. Professor Leat will interview representatives from the largest grant-making trusts and foundations. Due to be published in June, the research will be part of a series of reports from the Commission that will focus on the economic downturn.

This research runs alongside an Association of Charitable Foundations (ACF) comprehensive survey of its members over the next couple of months. ACF carried out a pilot survey amongst its members last year to determine the impact of the recession on ACF members, the results of which were published in the December issue of Trust & Foundation News. Indications from that survey were that it was too early to assess properly charitable trust reactions to the recession, and ACF has instigated this new survey.

The Commission and ACF have liaised on their separate surveys, and the intention is that they should be complementary, despite their slightly different aims. ACF’s research is primarily intended to provide a comprehensive picture of recession impact and reaction by charitable foundations in order to help its own members assess appropriate responses for themselves. Nonetheless it is likely that there will be some wider public reporting of the findings.

The Commission’s research will provide the scope to explore some of the issues for trusts and foundations in more depth, and is likely to reflect their concern with what is happening to the charity sector’s assets, a large proportion of which are represented through the endowments held by many trusts and foundations.

It is likely that a report of the Commission's survey will be available on its website to be targeted at a wider charity and public audience.