In 2024, we piloted an anonymous survey for our charity partners to feed back on their experiences of working with us. Here’s what they had to say:
- 79% of respondents strongly agreed or agreed that their organisation is supported by the Foundation for the long term.
- 95% strongly agreed or agreed that their organisation is trusted by the Foundation to make the right decisions, and that that the Foundation demonstrates flexibility.
“The trust and openness that exists means learnings can be shared, and […] we are supported to deliver the strongest possible outcomes.” - 84% strongly agreed or agreed that the Foundation adds value to their partnership beyond funding.
“The Berkeley Foundation strives to connect its staff with our charity's mission, and encourages and facilitates volunteering opportunities, event attendance, and staff engagement.” - 68% strongly agreed or agreed that the Foundation has prioritised equity, diversity and inclusion in its partnership approach.
What we could do better
When asked about the future needs of their organisation, and what Berkeley Foundation could do more or less of, there were several key trends among the responses. Many of these are echoed across the voluntary sector, including:
- Longer-term funding commitments
- More unrestricted funding to support core costs
- More opportunities to connect and learn from other charities
- Improved access to the Berkeley Group business, including through work experience and placement opportunities for young people
- A stronger focus on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI)
How we’ve responded
- Longer-term funding – We’ve extended our Resilience Fund grant commitments to three years, bringing them in line with our other partnerships.
- More unrestricted funding – We’ve strengthened our core cost commitment by unrestricting 25% of all new grants.
- More opportunities to connect and learn from other charities – We launched our Building resilient organisations lunch and learn series, which promotes peer-learning, support and connection.
- More access to the business – We continue to work closely with the Berkeley Group to create opportunities for young people to gain new skills and secure work placements. This year, we shared early communications with our charity partners about Berkeley’s Apprenticeship Scheme and hosted a pre-application webinar for prospective applicants.
- A stronger focus on EDI – We continue to embed equity, diversity and inclusion in our grant-making, in line with our EDI plan, and we’re set to launch an EDI monitoring form this autumn. We shared an update on this work in our recent blog.
This is just the beginning. We will continue to collect feedback from our partners annually and evolve our grant-making practice and partnership approach in line with IVAR’s Open and Trusting Grant-making Community. Thank you to everyone who has provided feedback so far!