Thinking about… risk: Developing a framework

In ‘Thinking about… risk’, we set out our initial findings from a study carried out in partnership with a pilot group of five foundations into perceptions of risk and how these are managed and mitigated. This work builds on The possible not the perfect and Duty to Care? where we observed that ‘too much caution can narrow the range of people and organisations funded and what that funding can achieve’, and encouraged funders to consider if they ‘are taking enough risk rather than too much’.

As part of the study we created a framework with our pilot group to help foundations think about their approaches to risk. The purpose of this framework is to help trusts and foundations to achieve greater clarity about the different aspects of opportunity and risk inherent in their strategies and aspirations. And to ensure that their application, assessment and decision-making practices accurately reflect this appetite, both across their portfolio and in individual programmes.