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This project is supported by The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest community funder in the UK. The project sits at the heart of the Collaboration Circle, a space we launched last year for funders and civil society to come together to design and make funding decisions collectively. By holding pooled funds and experimenting with new ways of working, the Collaboration Circle enables us to reimagine how money flows to organisations and how we can work differently alongside communities to create change.
At its core, this project is about building a robust, practical framework of equitable processes and systems that will support not just future work within the Collaboration Circle, but which can spark wider change across the funding world. We’ll be drawing on the latest and emerging practice from both within and beyond the UK, and we’re delighted to have convened an international Task and Finish Group to guide this work.
Here’s what the journey will look like:
Stage One: Mapping and Reviewing
We've already started gathering the knowledge that exists both in the UK and beyond, and the Task and Finish Group of experienced grantmakers and equity-focused practitioners is helping to review this and shape the foundations for this work. We've now held two Task and Finish Group meetings, and both have set the tone for what’s to come: big thinking, practical outcomes, and a strong commitment to equity throughout the whole grant process. The group includes funders, civil society leaders, and equity and justice practitioners — all bringing lived and learned experience to the table.
Stage Two: Building the Infrastructure
We’ll then translate this learning into a library of tangible tools – from clear process maps to a grant management system designed specifically for the Collaboration Circle. The aim is to ensure everything from application to reporting is rooted in equity, while balancing the practical needs of both funders and funded organisations.
Stage Three: Testing and Embedding
We’ll then work with seconded delivery teams to pilot and refine these approaches. This phase is all about applying the framework in real-life contexts, learning as we go, and making adjustments to ensure they work in practice for different types and scales of funding programmes.
Stage Four: Sharing and Scaling
Finally, we’ll bring everything together – sharing the learning widely across the funding sector. We’ll produce open-source frameworks, tools and templates that any funder or organisation can use to embed equitable practice in their own funding – from grants to social investment and more.
If you're already familiar with Collaboration Circle, you’ll know that behind it is the ambition to test new ways of working, so we can shift where power sits in grantmaking. From the first couple of Task and Finish Groups, we’ve agreed a few core principles to guide us so we can achieve this:
- Equity can’t just sit in decision-making; it needs to be baked into the structure and process — we’re aiming for systemic change, not just surface-level fixes.
- Grantees’ voices will be at the centre of this work — through targeted workshops, co-creation, and meaningful engagement.
- We’re taking a transparent, humble, and action-focused approach — working flexibly, but with purpose, and where needed, letting go of existing ways of doing things.
If you're a funder, civil society leader, or just passionate about making funding fairer please get in touch so we can tell you more about this work. We’re excited to keep sharing our progress, and even more excited to see how this work can support more equitable, community-led grant-making across the board.
