The grant making world, from long established foundations and trusts to philanthropists and individual givers, is really waking up to the potential of social movements. Grassroots, people-led, agile and reactive - movements drive innovative and collective power to enact real change – and it is why we exist, because we want them to thrive.
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However, grant making traditionally is not designed to fit with the organising model of social movements. Barriers include:
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Requirement to be a registered charity
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Multi stage application processes, requiring many hours of work
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Slow decision making and grant transfer stages
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Reluctance to give flexible funding, and reliance on project funding
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Lack of understanding of trust-based approaches
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Perception that movements equal high risk
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Not knowing ‘where to find movements’
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Are you a donor seeking help to fund more movements? Contact us!
we can help you
We can regrant for you if you would like to fund social movements and community organising, but don’t have the capacity, networks or expertise. We ask that you are fully open to developing, testing and learning from processes that are movement-aligned, and contribute to learning in the philanthropy sector - see some examples here.
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In our regranting, we aim:
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to use accessible processes that work with movements
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to understand what movements need and how they work
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distribute funds quickly so that movements can keep their momentum going
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capture what they are doing through dialogue and feedback
We can act as a charity fiscal sponsor for movements in the UK and elsewhere in the world, and for both UK and international donors. We are not a fiscal host or financial service provider – we ‘pass through’ the grant, making checks to assure you that activities are charitable and legitimate, but we don’t provide ongoing financial services, bookkeeping, payroll or grant management. We can refer movements to fiscal hosts if that is what they need in addition to our sponsorship. Read more here
We have a growing movement of movements, so we can connect you to them, or provide you with insights about movements working on specific topics or in particular regions to help inform your grant making decisions. We also hold events where donors can meet movements