Have you noticed changes in foundation behaviour and preoccupations over the last year?
There are two things – both very much in evidence in my workshop yesterday. One thing that has struck me has been a willingness on the part of foundations to look hard at the requirements imposed on the organizations they fund. Until perhaps the last year, foundations paid lipservice to the idea that they do impose transaction costs on these organizations, but now my impression is that they are recognizing how tough things are on the ground and are prepared to look both at the way they operate on their own and also, as we heard yesterday, at the possibility of combining forces over reporting and looking for ways of reducing the burden.

The other thing is that it’s much easier now to have a conversation about asset management and mission connected investment. Trustees are questioning whether they should have been more active in their attitude towards the shares they own. My workshop yesterday had examples from many countries of boards of trustees who a year ago would not really have engaged in a conversation about their investment strategies and who are now not only doing so but feeling brave enough to be more demanding of their investment managers and becoming a bit more sceptical about the advice they have received. I hope that momentum will survive the possibly uncertain recovery of the markets as demonstrated so graphically by Guy Wagner of Banque de Luxembourg.