The London Community Foundation is delighted to report that we’ve received a very good Foundation Practice Rating as part of a report released earlier this year.
The Foundation Practice Rating reviews 100 of the largest foundations in the UK, chosen at random, and assesses them for good practice in diversity, accountability and transparency. Each foundation is rated A-D against key criteria in each area and then is awarded an overall score too. The Foundation Practice Rating is funded by a group of UK funders looking to improve their own best practice and encourage others to do likewise. The design of the rating system (including defining the criteria and research process) has been led by Giving Evidence, an independent consultancy.
Our overall rating was B but we received A ratings in two of the three categories (accountability and transparency) and a B rating for diversity too. This good performance is in keeping with our fellow community foundations, who all performed well above average across the foundations reviewed.
As a foundation we work hard to keep developing our practice in all three areas and it is encouraging to see this reflected in our Foundation Practice Rating scores. We are particularly proud to receive a B score for diversity, recognizing what we have done to improve our equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in recent years. After an EDI audit we developed our organisational EDI statement and strategy which reaches across the organisation including our governance, people, culture, grant making and donor engagement.
We are also committed to report our diversity data on our Board and team in our Statutory Accounts, allowing us to add key insights and challenges as part of our continued commitment to being accountable for how we represent London. Although we are not legally required to report against diversity, we are committed to being transparent, holding ourselves to account and learning from our challenges and progress.
We are delighted to receive such a high Foundation Practice Rating, and it is testament to the hard work of the team and trustees, whom I would like to thank publicly. We won’t rest on our laurels, and we’ll continue to improve our practices to ensure we provide the best possible advice, service and support, to both our donors and the incredible front line community organisations across London.Paul Buchanan - Interim CEO, The London Community Foundation
We know there is always room for improvement in all areas of the Foundation Practice Rating and we remain committed to continuing our learning and developing our diversity, accountability and transparency. However, we are very proud of our review from Foundation Practice Rating and are confident that we are well placed to support and resource local specialist organisations and groups across London.
You can find out more about the Foundation Practice Rating, including reading a full report on the foundation sector, at https://www.foundationpracticerating.org.uk/