The Bernard Sunley Foundation
A 3-person capital grants team operating like a team of 10 with Salesforce built by Hyphen8.
About Bernard Sunley Foundation Story
Founded in 1960 by property developer Bernard Sunley, the foundation remains family-led, with trustees closely connected to its original philanthropic vision.
The foundation funds capital projects that strengthen communities. These include village halls, hospices, schools, scout huts, outdoor activity centres, and rehabilitation facilities. The focus is not simply on buildings, but the lives transformed within them.
The Challenge
Bernard Sunley Foundation is a family foundation funding capital projects across England and Wales. With a team of just three people, they award almost £5 million each year across nearly 500 grants.
Today, they operate with a Salesforce platform designed, built, and continuously evolved by Hyphen8.
“The work that we’ve done with Hyphen8 using Salesforce has been completely and utterly a game changer for us, I am very proud of our system and believe it’s one of the best philanthropy systems out there."
- Sue Davies, Director, Bernard Sunley Foundation.
Pain Points
When Sue joined as Director, Salesforce was already in place. However, the foundation used a hybrid setup with a third-party app that sat between the website and Salesforce.
Sue quickly recognised limitations.
“We were using Salesforce, but when I joined, I was keen to look at how we could use it as a system to ensure we were making the absolute most out of world-class technology, to power our work.”
Their previous system restricted flexibility and instant tools at their fingertips. It did not support the level of deep-layered governance the trustees required to assess how they could continue to make a greater impact. It made reporting more manual than it needed to be. It limited how far the foundation could evolve.
Sue explored alternative grant databases but ultimately decided to retain Salesforce. She realised what they needed was the right partner.
That partner was Hyphen8.
“Once we found Hyphen8, I kind of knew immediately that we’d found the right consultancy. They just got what we did and really helped to drive the work with their years of experience, tools, ideas and ways of thinking about problems.”
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Governance confidence and trustee engagement
Trustee meetings are energised and cover all bases, with trustees asking thoughtful questions in real time. Sue values that level of challenge, and the organisation wanted Hyphen8 to make it easy to respond with confidence, using trusted data, during the conversation.
Sue shared, “I wanted everyone to have instant access to the data, so when unexpected questions came up in meetings, I could answer straight away, and we didn’t have to go away and think about data to provide answers.”
We wanted Hyphen8 to provide us with immediate access to reliable information; those moments became an opportunity to demonstrate clarity, rigour, and the organisation's impact. -
Professional reporting that matches the quality of the work
Sue explained: “We wanted Hyphen8 to redesign our system and ensure smoother reporting, as we often had to export data into spreadsheets and spend time formatting documents so they looked right.
You were spending hours of your life trying to edit it and make the data look exciting in a way that demonstrated what you wanted to show.
We wanted Hyphen8 to enable a far more polished, consistent output, so trustee papers and reporting reflect the foundation’s standards and brand without consuming valuable time. -
Built for real-world capital grantmaking
Capital projects are dynamic by nature. Timelines shift, costs change, and grants are pledged for two years and sometimes extended. That reality is not a problem; it is simply the nature of funding buildings and refurbishments. Hyphen8 supported the foundation with structured tracking, clear reporting, and workflows that fit how capital grants actually behave.
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Strong controls that protect charities and the foundation
The foundation operates with careful financial stewardship, including bank checks, clear authorisations, extension management, and awareness of payment interception risks. They wanted this to be reflected in Salesforce and everything be in one place.
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Institutional memory and long-term resilience
With a small team, capturing knowledge centrally is a strength, not just a necessity, so the team wanted to ensure that the new system captured everything in one central source of truth.
“If I were to get run over by a bus tomorrow, somebody would be able to come in and log into my account and probably get a very good sense of where everything is at.”
The Solution: A Bespoke Salesforce Platform Designed by Hyphen8
Hyphen8 worked closely with Sue and her team over an intensive three-month overhaul. The result was a bespoke, intuitive Salesforce platform tailored specifically for a capital grantmaker.
Sue describes the transformation as profound.
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A 3 month Overhaul
Hyphen8 worked closely with Sue and her team over an intensive three-month overhaul. The result was a bespoke, intuitive Salesforce platform tailored specifically for a capital grantmaker.
Sue describes the transformation as profound.
“It’s just transformative. Hyphen8 have completely blown us away with what they’ve created what used to take hours now happens in a few clicks of a button and we have instant access to the information we need as a grantmaker.”
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A redesigned interface built for simplicity and clarity
Hyphen8 created a clean, user instinctive system. The team wanted power without complexity. That is exactly what Hyphen8 delivered.
“They are all about trying to make something that’s technically quite complicated very user friendly.”
The dashboard provides real-time visibility of applications, allocations, categories, trends, and historical data. Information that once took hours to extract can now be accessed in seconds.
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Instant answers in trustee meetings
Sue can now respond confidently in real time.
“If I get asked something in a meeting I can answer it right there and then.”
Trustees receive accurate, immediate insights. Governance confidence has increased dramatically.
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Beautiful trustee packs and site visit reports with Conga Composer
One of the most distinctive features of the system is the use of Conga Composer integrated within Salesforce.
Hyphen8 designed a process that automatically transforms grant data into branded, professional documents.
“I press a button, and it comes through as a fantastic document.”
Every site visit report and trustee paper is concise, consistent, and aligned with the foundation’s branding.
“Instead of spending hours of your life trying to edit it, this just does it in seconds.”
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Strategic insight beyond administration
Salesforce now enables Sue to step back and analyse sector trends.
For example, the foundation identified a wave of applications for hospice upgrades. This insight informed trustee discussions about funding focus and sector demand.
The system supports not just processing grants, but shaping strategy.
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Finance workflows built for capital grants
Hyphen8 built automated tracking for two-year pledges, extensions, and drawdowns.
The finance manager runs monthly Salesforce-generated reports to identify upcoming claims. Reminder emails are generated directly from the system. Extensions are recorded cleanly. Every action is logged.
The system handles layers of compliance, communication, and documentation.
“It’s like a team of probably about 10 staff all in that one Salesforce tool.”
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Templates and communication are centralised
Rejections, withdrawals, cancellations, and grant offers are generated directly from Salesforce templates.
Consistency has improved. Administrative burden has reduced.
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Training and long-term partnership
Hyphen8 did not simply build the system and leave.
When a new grants officer joined, Hyphen8 provided dedicated training days.
“Gemma has been absolutely fantastic.”
The foundation maintains a rolling contract because technology evolves and Hyphen8 continues to refine and improve the platform.
“They’re worth every penny.”
The Impact of working with Hyphen8
The Impact
Intro to impact here
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A three-person team operating like ten
Without the system, Sue estimates they would need three or four times the staff.
“It simply wouldn’t be feasible.”
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Professional, consistent outputs in seconds
Trustee papers and site visit reports are now produced at the click of a button. Presentation standards have risen significantly.
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Real-time governance confidence
Trustees receive immediate, evidence-backed responses during meetings.
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Strategic visibility
The foundation can see trends, funding patterns, and sector shifts across multiple years.
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Institutional memory and resilience
All conversations, documents, photographs, and key information are logged in Salesforce. The system acts as a living archive.
“It’s like another archive of the foundation.”
Making an impact
"Thanks to Hyphen8 we now have an incredible system, and they helped us think through what was possible. They are super!"
Sue Davies, Director, Bernard Sunley Foundation.
Why Did You Choose Salesforce and Hyphen8?
Sue considered other grant databases. Ultimately, the decision was about partnership.
Hyphen8 stood out because they:
“Understood grantmaking deeply, and we knew that was what we needed to be successful with our project.”
“They knew how to prioritise simplicity and the user journey.”
We knew they could deliver a substantial overhaul quickly and effectively.”
“We also knew because of the relationship we had with Gemma, they’d continue to provide advice, refinement, and long-term support.”
Advice for other charities
"“Hyphen8 have been absolutely superb!
Gemma built the platform, and she’s supported us all the way through, including training our new grants officer so we could feel confident using it. They make really helpful recommendations, and it’s always the right direction.”
