Refining Our Priorities: Insights from Our Five-Year Review

How data, learning and reflection are helping shape our approach to grant-making and our future impact.

Our Five-year Review
At The Dulverton Trust, we believe that good grant-making means continually learning, reflecting and looking for ways to both strengthen our impact and support the charity sector, as it navigates a hugely challenging funding environment.

Transparency is so important to us. We know that organisations need clear information about what we fund, where our priorities lie, and whether an application is likely to be a good fit, so they can make an informed decision on whether to apply to us – so valuable time and resources can be directed where they can have the greatest impact.

Over the past year, we have been looking closely at what and how we have funded, trends in applications, and reasons for applications being declined. This process has given us an opportunity to better understand emerging needs across the sector, reflect on the areas where our funding is making the strongest contribution, and consider how we can best support the charitable causes and communities at the heart of our mission.

We’ve also undertaken a detailed review of our funding data from the last five years to better understand the impact of our funding and how we can continue to deliver on our mission and aims in the years ahead.

It’s important to say we do not anticipate any major changes to our overall direction and will continue to remain open for grant requests.

Cathedrals
However, one significant change will be made to our cathedrals programme. We have already contacted our network of cathedrals and partner organisations to inform them of this decision but want to make sure this is communicated to the wider sector too.

We have taken the difficult decision to no longer fund cathedrals.

Historically, Trustees have considered appeals from cathedrals at the autumn Board meeting each year and have awarded a total of £2.5 million since 1949 (equivalent to approximately £10.4 million in real terms). We are incredibly proud of the positive outcomes achieved through these grants and the contribution they have made to preserving and enhancing these historic buildings.

While we have continued to support important cathedral projects, our grants typically represent only a modest contribution to increasingly costly capital works. Since 2022, our funding has covered an average of 6.5% of the total cost of these projects, while cathedral grants have accounted for around 3% of our overall annual grant budget. At the same time, these projects often involve complex, long-term partnerships, with several requiring revised approvals and ongoing management as projects have evolved. We also recognise that preparing applications represents a considerable investment of time and effort for applicants, while assessing requests and managing grants requires a significant commitment of Trust resources.

Taken together, these factors have led us to conclude that we are no longer able to demonstrate the level of impact we had originally hoped to achieve through this area of our portfolio. We have a responsibility to ensure that our resources are directed where they can make the greatest difference, and our review has highlighted that there are other areas of our funding where our contribution can have a stronger and more demonstrable impact.

This decision has been extremely difficult. However, our Trustees remain committed to supporting the safeguarding and conservation of religious heritage buildings. We are working with them to explore how we can do this in a more strategic and impactful way in the future, and we expect to share further details later this year.

Looking ahead
While our review has led to the decision outlined above, we do not anticipate any further significant changes to our funding programmes or overall direction.

Instead, this work is helping us refine and clarify our existing priorities. In some areas, this may mean sharpening our language, providing clearer guidance about the work we are seeking to support, and setting out our priorities in a more accessible and transparent way.

We hope this will give organisations greater confidence in understanding our approach and what we are looking to achieve through our funding.

At its heart, this work is about clarity rather than change. It is helping us better articulate what we stand for, what we champion, and how we intend to continue supporting this work in the years ahead. Alongside this, we want to communicate more openly, share more data and evidence, and ensure our organisational values are reflected not only in what we fund but also in how we engage with applicants, partners and the wider sector.

We are excited about what this process can achieve. As well as providing greater clarity about our priorities, it offers an opportunity to celebrate the impact that has already been achieved through our funding and the partnerships that have made that work possible.

We will share the full outcomes of this work with our current charity partners and the wider sector in the autumn. We look forward to continuing the conversation and to strengthening our work together in the years ahead.