To view as a webpage please click here

August 2009: Issue 3

"We may be just over half way through 2009, but this has already been a year of change for the Foundation. With significant changes to our Board of Trustees and an increased focus on understanding the impact of our funding, as usual the Foundation isn’t standing still."

The majority of our work continues as usual, with 175 awards totalling almost £3.5 million made so far this year. We have also held over 50 local funding events. These give us a great chance to meet local groups and find out how life is for organisations across Scotland, and we’re looking forward to the other 30 which are planned for the rest of the year.

We are also delighted that the Foundation has been shortlisted for a Third Sector Excellence Award in the accountability and transparency category. This is a national award and we will find out towards the end of September if we have won. Regardless of the end result we are still extremely happy to be on a shortlist of two. It is so important to us to spend time with the groups that apply to us for funding, and we greatly appreciate how willing people are to be involved in our annual forum, regular reviews of our funding criteria and to spend time speaking to us.

While there is much to celebrate, like many other charities we’ve also been looking hard at what we do to make sure our efforts make the biggest difference and are delivered with the best value for money possible. These are challenging times for the voluntary sector but we are determined that we will continue to develop not only what we do but also the way that we do it, and to support others to do the same."

Along with the appointment of Mary as the Foundation’s Chief Executive in January, we have welcomed a new Chairman this year.

Christine Lenihan took over from Norman Drummond as Chairman in February. Speaking of her appointment Christine said: “In these challenging times for our society and the voluntary sector in particular, I am looking forward to helping the Foundation as we support Scotland’s charities that work to improve people’s lives in so many local communities.”

Christine has been a Trustee of the Foundation for the last three years.

She is an experienced Chairman who has also served as a University Governor and held a number of non executive directorships.

She was a founder of Cabal Communications, a London based magazine publishing company started in 1998.

Her entrepreneurial career led her from nursing to a number of senior positions in the pharmaceutical industry and subsequently to starting her own businesses, the first of which was in 1983.

We also appointed four new Trustees this year. In April, we welcomed Professor Sir John P Arbuthnott, Paul Hardie and Professor Sandy Cameron CBE. Christine said: “I am delighted to welcome all three new Trustees to our Board. Their wealth of experience includes hands on delivery in local charities, social work and research as well as local and national public and voluntary sector appointments, and this will add to the skills and experience of existing Trustees.”

We also welcomed Susan Rice CBE as a Trustee in June. Susan is Managing Director of Lloyds Banking Group Scotland and said of her new appointment: "The good work of the Foundation in Scotland is something which I have followed with interest over many years, and I am extremely pleased to be joining the Board of Trustees in my personal capacity and supporting this excellent work.”

Our Annual Forum is designed to help charities develop a better awareness and understanding of the work of the Foundation, and to help develop the organisations that attend. We invite everyone who has applied for an award in the previous year, whether they have been successful or not, and the Foundation's Trustees and staff look forward to the day enormously. This year it was held on the 23rd April at the EICC in Edinburgh.

Our keynote speaker this year was Mick Jackson, Founder and Chairman of the WildHearts Foundation. WildHearts is a charity committed to launching companies that fight poverty, which funds micro-businesses in West Africa. In his speech Mick shared his thinking on the role of the voluntary sector in Scotland; speaking passionately about the inspiration for his charity and his belief in the sector, Mick went on to answer questions from the audience on a wide range of topics.

Christine Lenihan and Mary Craig gave a review of the Foundation's year during 2008. Delegates were then given the opportunity to question Trustees and staff about our grantmaking work over the last year. Sitting on the panel were:

Christine Lenihan, Chairman
Bill Hope, Trustee
Mary Craig, Chief Executive
Elaine Wilson, Partnership Drugs Initiative Programme Manager

In the afternoon, delegates attended workshops covering different areas of relevance to the voluntary sector. These workshops were ‘Governance in Action’ highlighting the importance of good governance; ‘Social Enterprise’ focusing on the ways charities can increase the income they generate; and ‘Successful Applications’ where our assessors shared tips on how to successfully apply to the Foundation.

Delegates at the forum were asked to complete an evaluation form to help to make the event even better next year! Comments included:

"A very positive and uplifting event - much needed at this time. The great morale of the LTSB team was infectious."

"Excellent venue, inspiring keynote speaker and helpful seminar."

"Really worthwhile - meeting people from all over and hearing about their charities."

"A wonderful atmosphere. Courtesy and respect shown at every level. Excellent leadership."

In the last year we have made changes to the way we evaluate applications. Our Trustees are particularly interested in the difference our awards make and so, along with other funders, we are asking charities to highlight the ways in which our funding will affect the lives of the people they support.

In September of last year our application forms changed from asking for ‘objectives’ to focusing on the difference or change our funding will make to the people you work with.

This change is intended to make monitoring and evaluation of our awards more efficient and simple. We want to keep the process as easy as possible and our assessors are keen to offer support to anyone who feels they need extra help.

Next year, our assessors are also going to be providing more guidance on progress reports. Currently there is not a standard format for the reports we ask for, and charities can structure them in any way they please. Our assessors want to make sure charities are using their time effectively and are clear on what they should be reporting.

For more information on outcomes or monitoring and evaluation, we also encourage charities to contact Evaluation Support Scotland and you can visit their website at www.evaluationsupportscotland.org.uk.

Following on from the changes we've made to how we evaluate the impact of our funding, we have just started running a pilot exercise which aims to improve charities’ ability to understand and communicate the impact of their work. We recently awarded £20,000 to Evaluation Support Scotland (ESS) to work directly with 20 charities who have been awarded funding through our existing award programmes. The 20 charities which have been chosen were nominated by our assessors and this work is additional to the main grant they applied for. The award is optional and charities that choose not to take up support will still get their award.

ESS will support the charities and help them get to grips with the basic mechanics of evaluation and to express the difference they want to make to the people they support. This pilot will run for a year and the results will help us decide whether to adopt this approach more broadly.

We hope to keep everyone updated on the work being carried out, so look out for further information in our next newsletter.

This year, our Board of Trustees reluctantly made the decision that they would not invite applications for the Foundation’s Overseas programme.

The decision was reached after a huge amount of consideration, and it was made clear that the programme will be kept under review. All existing overseas awards will be honoured in full, including multi-year awards.

We are very aware that our funding supports work that has a big impact in overseas communities, and also helps contribute to the UK operations of the organisations involved.

We would like to thank everyone who has previously been funded through this programme for the great work they deliver.

There are six deadline dates for the Standard Grant Scheme each year. To find out more about this programme click here.

Charities can apply for a Capacity Building Grant at any time; there are no deadline dates for this award programme. Contact a member of the Foundation staff to discuss applying for this grant.

If you are considering applying to the Foundation, we encourage you to attend one of our funding surgeries prior to submitting your application.

The surgeries are an opportunity for representatives of registered charities to discuss potential projects face-to-face with the Foundation’s assessors. Our assessors will be able to give you tips on filling in the application form and advice on the kind of projects that we fund. The aim of the surgeries is to make the application process as straightforward as possible, and to offer as much help as we can.

We hold our surgeries throughout Scotland until the end of November. For a list of our surgery dates and locations for the rest of the year click here.

To attend a surgery, all you need to do is phone the Foundation's office and we will book you in for an appointment.

The Foundation's main contact numbers recently changed and our new numbers are:

Tel: 0131 444 4020

Fax: 0131 444 4099

Contact numbers for individual members of staff have not changed.

If you have any questions about this newsletter or about the Foundation, please feel free to e-mail or call us on our new number.

click here to unsubscribe to this newsletter

Registered Office, Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland, Riverside House, 502 Gorgie Road, Edinburgh EH11 3AF,
Tel: 0131 444 4020 Fax: 0131 444 4099

A Charitable Company Limited by Guarantee. Registered in Scotland Number SC096068. Scottish Charity Number SC009481.
A Member of the Scottish Grant Making Trusts Group. A Member of the Association of Charitable Foundations