Missed the launch of the Foundation Practice Rating Year Five report? Don’t worry – there's an opportunity to catch up with the recording from the online event: foundationpracticerating.org.uk/cohort-2024-...
#FoundationPracticeRating #FPR #Foundations #Diversity #Accountability #Transparency
Thank you to Sufina Ahmad (John Ellerman Foundation) and Asif Afridi (@barrowcadbury.bsky.social) for writing this blog post.
When funders and the charities they support come under attack in the media and have false information shared about them, what should they do? This blog post from two Funders Group members explores some critical points we must engage with: foundationpracticerating.org.uk/transparency...
Image description: Dark blue background with Foundation Practice Rating logo top left. Text bottom left says: Year Five 2025/26. Two circles, one with a gradient and a blue one placed on top with text that reads: Diversity, accountability, and transparency in focus.
The Year Five results show foundations scoring A overall are diverse in size & structure. They include very large, mid-sized & very small. They include endowed and community foundations, one founded over 800 years ago & a much younger one. Read more: foundationpracticerating.org.uk/cohort-resul...
Congratulations!
Congratulations to three foundations who achieved an A in each domain (diversity, accountability, transparency) and an A overall: bsky.app/profile/miss..., Cheshire Community Foundation, and Wiltshire and Swindon Community Foundation. Read the report:
Thanks to everyone who attended the Year Five launch today. Special thanks to Caroline Fiennes, Dr Shalu Jain, Danielle Walker, Sacha Rose (City Bridge Foundation) & Hannah Brown (bsky.app/profile/miss...) for their expertise & insights. See the report
Dark background with Foundation Practice Rating logo top left. Test at the bottom says: Year Five - 2025/26. Two circles to the right side - one is larger and gradient colours. The text in the blue circle at the front says: Diversity, accountability and transparency in focus.
The Year Five results are now live: foundationpracticerating.org.uk/cohort-resul.... We've seen statistically significant improvements since the FPR began five years ago and the results are the strongest in our five‑year history.
#Diversity #Accountability #Transparency
If you’re joining our launch event tomorrow and haven't attended one of our events before, you can find out all about the method behind the Foundation Practice Rating assessment in this short video, edited from a previous event: vimeo.com/1171782301?f...
As part of the Foundation Practice Rating, the top five foundations (by giving budget) are always included in the cohort for assessment. You might be surprised how much change there is among the top five. Read for more detail: foundationpracticerating.org.uk/surprising-c...
Have your say on what it’s like to apply for, receive and manage grants from independent foundations.
IVAR, home of the Open and Trusting community of 170+ funders, is running its biggest ever funding experience survey:
One for your diary – 18 March 2026 (14:00 to 15:30) is the online launch of the Year Five Foundation Practice Rating (FPR) report. Book your free place today:
Thanks to the Funders Group: bsky.app/profile/barr..., John Ellerman Foundation, Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust, bsky.app/profile/jrct..., Paul Hamlyn Foundation, bsky.app/profile/ther..., The Indigo Trust, bsky.app/profile/city... and bsky.app/profile/fpro...
Join us for the online launch of the Year Five Foundation Practice Rating (FPR) report:
- 18 March 2026
- 14:00-15:30 on Zoom
Register to attend: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/foundation...
Blue background with Foundation Practice Rating logo and stars overlaid. In the centre is a turquoise circle with the words "Season's greetings" inside.
As 2025 draws to a close, we wish you a restful festive season. March 2026 brings the launch of the Year Five report. This will be an opportunity to look at the Year Five results and also reflect on five years of assessing foundations’ practices on diversity, accessibility and transparency.
What do our researchers do with comments foundations send us about their draft data? In short, we consider them all. We look at every document, statement and policy that foundations cite. Find out more in our latest blog post:
Thanks to everyone who attended our recent online info sessions. If you missed them, you can:
- watch the recording - foundationpracticerating.org.uk/past-webinars/
- read the Q&A - foundationpracticerating.org.uk/past-webinar...
The latest blog post on the Foundation Practice Rating website - looking at what we mean by a Trustee recruitment policy, with an example of what good can look like from John Ellerman Foundation.
"...but the current state-of-the-art AI technology is prone to some errors." says Google CEO Sundar Pichai in a BBC interview. This is why we don't currently use AI to gather data about foundations. More in our blog post: foundationpracticerating.org.uk/why-we-do-no...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Positive news about improving trustee diversity, though the need for further progress is noted: acf.org.uk/acf/ACF/Blog.... This mirrors our results where diversity has been the weakest domain. If you want to make progress on your practices on diversity, ACF has resources: acf.org.uk/ACF/Research...
Join us on Thursday for your chance to find out more about the Foundation Practice Rating and to ask @carolinefiennes.bsky.social and Danielle Walker-Palmour your questions about the initiative. Join us at midday on Thursday 23 October. Register today: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/foundation...
Join us on 23 October (12 noon) or 5 November (12 noon) for one of our webinars on this year’s Foundation Practice Rating. Familiarise yourself with our aims and approach and ask any questions you have. Register today:
Image credit: Stochastic Parrots at Work - IceMing & Digit. betterimagesofai.org. creativecommons.org/licenses/by/...
Illustration of a surreal office scene with neon birds interacting with digital elements around three people near servers and file cabinets; one bird writes on a digital mesh, another carries a paper.
Accuracy is essential to the Foundation Practice Rating. Plausible but incorrect answers generated by AI are not adequate. Find out more about why we don’t use AI for our research in this blog post by @carolinefiennes.bsky.social: foundationpracticerating.org.uk/why-we-do-no...
Today's your last chance to opt-in to Year Five of the Foundation Practice Rating. The £1,200 fee (incl. VAT) covers the research and analysis needed. Contact us for more info: enquiries@friendsprovidentfoundation.org.uk
#FPR #Foundations #Diversity #Accountability #Transparency
Funded by;
@fprovfoundation.bsky.social
@jrct.bsky.social
@johnlyonscharity.bsky.social
@barrowcadbury.bsky.social
@therobertsontrust.bsky.social
@citybridgefndn.bsky.social
Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust
John Ellerman Foundation
Paul Hamlyn Foundation
The Indigo Trust
Our consultation is open until the end of the month and we'd love to hear from you! This survey is for any person from a charitable, philanthropic or social purpose organisation based in the UK. Answer the survey here ➡️ www.surveymonkey.com/r/FPRconsult...
New feature on the Foundation Practice Rating written by Director of @fprovfoundation.bsky.social, Danielle Walker-Palmour for @civilsociety.bsky.social.
Read the article here ➡️ www.civilsociety.co.uk/governance/f...
#FPR #Diversity #Accountability #Transparency