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Annual report: City Parochial Foundation

By Kaye Wiggins, Third Sector, 11 August 2009

The grant-maker emphasises its support for campaigning groups

Agency: Lift

Spend: £4,500

The City Parochial Foundation awards grants worth about £6m a year in total to groups that tackle poverty in London.

Format and audience

The charity produced a printed annual review because it decided this was the most effective way of grabbing the attention of the funders, policymakers and voluntary and community groups it was targeting. It hoped the document would make it easier for prospective applicants to understand its funding criteria and show the groups it funds how their work fits in with its strategic aims.

Design and content

The City Parochial Foundation places an emphasis on supporting campaign groups, and the review reflects this. The front cover image was taken at a protest by Strangers into Citizens, a group funded by the foundation.

The review is divided clearly into sections explaining the different grants awarded to meet each of the foundation's funding aims, so it conveys the charity's key messages.

Costs and practicalities

The charity chose to call the document an annual review, but it was submitted to the Charity Commission as its annual report. The copy was written by the charity's director of policy and grants. The City Parochial Foundation distributed 1,200 copies of the review, which took three months to produce and cost £4,500. So far, 70 per cent of the 150 respondents to a survey on its website say they have read the annual review.

The City Parochial Foundation says:

"Producing our annual review helps us to see the progress we have made towards each of our aims. It also gives a good picture of the nature of poverty in London, and we hope it will be of interest to a broader audience because of this."

SCORE
Design: 4
Readability: 5
Content: 4
Transparency: 5
Total: 18 out of 20