More than grants

From April 2025 to March 2026, our Trust Manager, Carla, did 51 in person charity visits and had 31 Teams meetings in order to get to know charities better and share information with them to help them have more success with bids and be a stronger charity. She also recently helped a Leeds charity run a Strategy Away Day for their trustees to prepare for their long-serving manager retiring. Every Trust board meeting is held at a local charity so that the trustees also keep conn

Sir George was very passionate about the healthcare profession and in 2022 the trustees decided to set up a new initiative with Leeds City College to celebrate six of the most committed Access to Science Professions students – mainly mature students who have gone back to study and train for a healthcare career. Every year the Trust gives a £600 cash prize to six students who really stood out to their tutors. Many looked after family and worked full time whilst studying.

The Trust works hard to ensure a steady flow of enquiries and applications for funds and aims to attend in person and online funding events whenever possible as this is a great way of meeting new charities and ensuring the Sir George Martin Trust is well known. Most events are organised by local infrastructure organisations such as Voluntary Action Leeds, Voluntary Action Calderdale, TSL (Third Sector Leaders), NOVA Wakefield and Impact Hub.

For the last few years, our Trust Manager has led the Common Application Form and Common Report Form Task Force initiatives with Yorkshire Funders and a number of other local funders. The aim of the common forms is to help grant seekers and grant holders save time and energy during the grant process by multiple funders having similar forms https://yorkshirefunders.org.uk/commonforms/

As the Trust has been working in Yorkshire for 70 years, its Trust Manager and trustees are very well connected and often connect contacts in order to help people and ensure they are talking to the right people. Recently, we put Ann Hart from PHAB Leeds in touch with another small charity in Leeds as PHAB has a mini bus which isn't being used much, while the other has high transport costs and needs a lower cost option. Our Trust Manager also organised a meeting for four West

As our Trust Manager, Carla Marshall, has worked in the charity sector for 14 years and the Sir George Martin Trust has a strong reputation within the funding world, she is increasingly being asked to talk about the Trust's relational approach and take part in interviews and podcasts. Recent features include this article in the SmartyGrants newsletter: https://www.smartygrants.co.uk/articles/tech-upgrades-wont-divert-uk-grantmakers-focus-on-human-connection