In partnership with the Homity Trust and the Ernest Kleinwort Charitable Trust this month we convened a roundtable discussion for grant-making foundations with a shared interest in Sussex.

We wanted to create a space to share knowledge, best-practice and insights from all our work and to discuss challenges and priorities we’re facing as organisations working to enable communities in Sussex.

Those attending included larger foundations with professional teams, family foundations with volunteer trustees, some with a focus on specific areas of Sussex and some who also fund nationally or even internationally.

We think we even had the oldest and newest foundations making grants in Sussex present – with an age difference of 419 years between them!

Some of the key discussion points included:

• The importance of funding core costs
• How to assess risk effectively and our own comfort with it
• Mental health – particularly for children & young people
• Multi-year funding
• Equity, diversity & inclusion
• Managing demand amidst a Cost of Living crisis
• Succession planning
• How to promote funding opportunities better
• Funding + non-financial support

If you are involved with a grant-making trust with a focus on Sussex or a professional advising one do get in touch if you would like to find out more.