The Resource Hub is being funded by the City Bridge Foundation, building on their commitment to place based giving across the capital. We are hugely excited by this development and judging by the response we had last week, you are too! Whether you’re already involved in place based giving, or someone who is interested in how this approach can bring about change in our communities, we hope you’ll be involved in this next stage of the journey.
But first up, a quick reminder about place based giving (PBG). For those less familiar with PBG, it’s a growing movement across London and beyond, which puts more funding and decision making into the hands of local people. Based on the idea that we all have something to give, it brings together people, ideas, passion and money and finds new ways to use these assets to benefit the community and bring about change.
Place based giving is underpinned by three shared principles:
- We connect people and foster collaboration, bringing together residents and the public, private and voluntary sectors
- We empower local people to take action on the issues that affect them
- We speak up about inequality and challenge ourselves and our partners to do better
There are active place based giving schemes in more than half of London’s boroughs, and since 2012, London Funders have supported these schemes to get off the ground and grow in strength. The Hub will increase the capacity to support place based giving, bringing new focus, energy and voices into the work. We’re going to be recruiting a new Director and convening a new Steering group to lead it.
Building on strong foundations to take things 'to the next level'
The Hub will build on the strong foundations we’ve already seen across the network. In the past 5 years over £25m given out to grass roots groups in our boroughs. 13,000 people have been engaged through collaborative projects, funding rounds, campaigns and partnerships. New alliances have been built, and new funding approaches tested bringing in resources to address inequality in the city.
But we know that grants alone are not enough. Place based giving is about more than funding, it is about involving people in the decisions which affect them, listening about where investment can be targeted and bringing together unusual suspects to make change happen.
With the new Hub, we will continue to support the existing network of place based giving schemes but also lead new programmes of work to strengthen and amplify its reach. This is good news for boroughs already involved, and those interested in joining. There is great diversity in place-based giving but we know local context can bring its own challenges for boroughs with less infrastructure. The Hub will stimulate schemes in these funding ‘cold spots’ as well as build new connections to strengthen existing schemes.
The new Hub will be good news for other funders: place based giving is an important part of the local funding eco-system. We’ve seen amazing partnerships develop between schemes and funders like Councils, NHS, the Lottery, and Corporates who want to find new ways of reaching their communities.
It will also be good news for business. Place based giving provides a route for businesses of all sizes to connect with local people and community groups, enhancing their knowledge of the places they work. And it is more than funding: new connections have led to mentoring, pro bono support, volunteering and many more initiatives that have had lasting change. The Hub will build on this.
And most importantly of all, it’s good news for Londoners. We’re already seeing examples of communities getting more involved in the places and spaces which matter to them. This might be through resident panels, community investment groups, or community changemakers putting their ideas into practice (you can read more about some of work already underway in our learning report here)
The Resource Hub will marshal resources, reach and interest beyond London to learn from national and international approaches to place.
What are the ambitions for the Hub?
Lots of people have been involved in shaping what the Hub could deliver, through an independent feasibility study commissioned by City Bridge Foundation in 2022 and subsequently through further consultation with stakeholders across and beyond the London’s Giving network. High on the agenda are ambitions to make the Hub a vibrant network for sharing the latest learning about place and what works in achieving change. The Resource Hub will marshal resources, reach and interest beyond London to learn from national and international approaches to place.
Across the London’s Giving network we’ve been testing and embedding different ways of participatory work in grantmaking but alongside other aspects of funding. Those already involved in place based giving want the Hub to be a beacon of excellence in its participative giving practice. This is a really exciting area of work, where we are already seeing a shift in how power is used differently by funders alongside the community, often at a hyper local level.
And there are ambitions for the Hub to do more to help place based giving challenge and influence the wider funding system. How can we best share and transfer some of the ideas we’ve seen so far to other sectors or actors in our communities? The Hub will provide more opportunities to do this.
So why does all this matter?
If the pandemic taught us one thing, it’s the deep human need for connection in the places and spaces where we live and work. Place matters as never before, and we're seeing more and more how everyone from Government, think tanks to funders are looking at their agendas through the lens of place.
We also know that people lead complex lives. We don't live in the voluntary, public or private sector and so working in isolation won’t bring about change. Collaboration remains at the heart of place based giving, and it’s a challenge to everyone who works locally to step up, do more and do differently.
We closed our session at last week’s conference reflecting that this is a movement for change. It’s a 21st century way for funders to use their knowledge and connections to invest wisely, and it's a different way of working. The movement has achieved remarkable things in a short time, and the new Hub gives everyone an opportunity to be part of this shift in power.
Find out more about the active schemes across London at www.londonsgiving.org.uk. If you want to hear more about our plans for the Resource Hub, please check out our FAQs document or contact Helen.mathie@londonfunders.org.uk.