The changing landscape for trusts and foundations

05/16/25 • 30 min

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Harle are joined by Lynne Guyton, chief executive of John Lyon’s Charity, and Sacha Rose-Smith, chief funding director at the City Bridge Foundation.

Lynne describes the realities for a grantmaker that has gone from being a nice-to-have to an essential funding pot. She explains why John Lyon’s Charity did not consider it responsible to pause funding and outlines the alternative ways it has navigated the surge in demand.

Sacha explains how the measures taken by the City Bridge Foundation during its temporary closure to new applications will strengthen its capabilities going forward, stressing the importance of understanding its place in the system and the areas where it could have the most impact.

Read our analysis about funders pausing their programmes.

Find out more about the Purpose Awards here.

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Lucinda Rouse and Emily Harle are joined by Lynne Guyton, chief executive of John Lyon’s Charity, and Sacha Rose-Smith, chief funding director at the City Bridge Foundation.

Read our analysis about funders pausing their programmes.

Find out more about the Purpose Awards here.

Tell us what you think of the Third Sector Podcast! Please take five minutes to let us know how we can bring you the most relevant, useful content. To fill in the survey, click here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Previous Episode

How a pivot to social enterprise solved one small charity’s funding woes

Lucinda Rouse and Andy Ricketts are joined by Dan Tickle, chief executive of the National Migraine Centre, and Peter Holbrook, chief executive of Social Enterprise UK.

Dan recounts how the National Migraine Centre adopted a social enterprise model to deliver its services in the face of declining voluntary income and expanded its patient offering in the process.

Peter echoes Dan’s assertion that one of the biggest changes needed for a charity moving to a social enterprise model is a cultural one. He lays out various financing options for social enterprise activities, including crowdfunding and community shares.

Listen back to our previous episode with St Helena Hospice and Social Finance.

Tell us what you think of the Third Sector Podcast! Please take five minutes to let us know how we can bring you the most relevant, useful content. To fill in the survey, click here.

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Next Episode

How one charity has adopted a more strategic approach to its corporate partnerships

Lucinda Rouse and Dami Adewale are joined by Russell Winnard, chief executive of the care leaver support charity the Drive Forward Foundation, to discuss the introduction of a new model to guide the organisation's corporate partnerships.

Russell explains how a combination of insufficient partnership income and the need for more joined-up pathways to employment opportunities for the charity’s service users prompted it to rethink its approach to working with businesses.

He stresses the importance of researching corporate priorities and warns of the risk of being drawn into partnership arrangements that service a company’s needs more than the charity’s bottom line.

Find out more about the Third Sector Conference here.

Tell us what you think of the Third Sector Podcast! Please take five minutes to let us know how we can bring you the most relevant, useful content. To fill in the survey, click here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.