More generally, did trusts and foundations see themselves as becoming more risk averse in their grant-making?
The main effect on approaches to risk was that noted above concerning greater scrutiny of financial viability of applicants. More generally, trusts and foundations described themselves as “being a bit more cautious”, “bold but not quite so bold”. At the same time, however, there was a concern to avoid any tendency to reduce the sector’s capacity for innovation. “I worry a bit that if we try to support organisations by relaxing the innovation requirement, we’ll start chipping away at innovation.” For some trusts and foundations, another concern was that local authority budget cuts, and losses of corporate giving, would have implications for use of their own grants where these depended on availability of such resources. “We’ll need to get smarter about who is doing what, and who isn’t doing what – old assumptions that x does that won’t necessarily hold.” It is also worth noting that trusts and foundations were not in general inundated with applications (as some had expected). There was,
