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Translate Issue 29, September 2017
Weedy Seadragon. Image courtesy of SIMS, photography by Erik Sclogl.
MESSAGE FROM THE CEO
Researching, learning, improving In the latest funding round, the Board of Governors approved over 50 grants valuing $4.8 million. Interestingly, the average size of the grants approved by the Board in this latest round continues to increase, not only in dollar terms, but also in average duration. This reflects the Foundation’s continuing focus on strategic and well-informed grant-making. The Foundation’s own internal evaluation of historic grants suggests that larger, longer duration grants are most effective in achieving outcomes and having the greatest impact. Informing our grantmaking in this way is integral to our process. The program management team and I will continue to spend more time developing relationships with organisations, understanding their people and their capabilities, and supporting those best placed to achieve their specific goals. I expect this approach will see the Foundation awarding fewer but larger, more targeted grants. This trend will be explored further in our forthcoming Annual Report (due in October) which I encourage you to read when it is published. In the past months, our team has been compiling program-specific Grantee Learnings. We have now distilled the collective learnings reported to the Foundation by grantees in