Inside Grantmaking

Sufina Ahmad, Director of the John Ellerman Foundation, joins Alex Blake to talk through how the Foundation funds change, from its total assets approach through to what actually makes an application stand out. Sufina walks through the Foundation's two-stage application process in detail, including why first-stage success rates are lower but second-stage approvals run close to 90%. She talks candid...

Jim McCormick, Chief Executive of the Robertson Trust, joins Alex Blake to talk through how Scotland's largest independent grantmaker actually makes decisions. Jim walks through what happens to an application from the moment it lands, who assesses it and how, and the four decision frames the Trust applies as awards get bigger. He talks candidly about the shift toward unrestricted funding, now at a...

This is the trailer for Inside Grantmaking — a podcast about how philanthropy really works. Each episode, host Alex Blake speaks with foundation staff, trustees, or advisors who share how they think about their work, how funding decisions get made, and the bigger questions shaping where grantmaking is heading. The conversations are honest, practical, and respectful — because better understanding b...