City Parochial Foundation

Charity Awards

'It's good to talk'

As an independent grantmaker the City Parochial Foundat

ion/Trust for London (two funds that share the same staff) focuses its work at the riskier end of grantmaking. Chief executive Bharat Mehta believes it has developed a way of grantmaking that really reaches out to those that most need funding, such as refugees and asylum seekers. The foundation has adopted a proactive approach, engages in dialogue with funded organisations and aims to develop trust between the fu

nder and the grantmaker.

We recognise the burden that funders can place upon the funded in the application process, says Mehta. "We visit and help those that may be unused to making applications.

The close partnership that is built up means that the foundation discovers what the needs are and can help to meet those needs. Mehta says: We are not funders who give a grant and then just walk away. We engage in a dialogue that helps you to understand what is actually

required.

The foundation has set up new organisations in response to its recipients needs. Three years ago it established the Employability Forum after organisations working with refugees said that they were able to help refugees become job ready but needed a way of building up high level contacts to secure jobs for these people.

Sometimes as a grantmaker you can appear lofty, says Mehta. But we nurture our approachability. It's about acknowledging that the grant recipients have got expertise that we can learn from.

Bharat Mehta

Clerk to the trustees
6 Middle Street
London

EC1A 7PH
020 7606 6145
Reg no. 205629
http://www.cityparochial.org.uk/

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