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Ambition 1: Enabling a movement of members to have strong and trusted connections, based on shared values and ambitions
Nasyah Bandoh, Membership Manager
One of my first tasks when I joined earlier this year was to relaunch our member-led networks. The networks provide space to exchange knowledge and ideas on some of the key areas members fund, from housing and homelessness to advice and health. This year, with our new Associate Director Pennylope, we also launched our Equity and Justice Network. Our networks are open to all members keen to learn from their peers, collectively horizon scan, troubleshoot and seek opportunities to collaborate.
Working alongside our five amazing network chairs to curate timely, informative agendas, we’ve heard from members and friends on a number of topics, from how funders are supporting innovation in the homelessness sector to the impact of mentoring on young Londoners.
Across the networks, our members are curious and committed to understanding the needs of frontline delivery organisations. We’re looking forward to facilitating more member-led network meetings to continue learning from each other, reflect together, and embrace opportunities to grow.
Ambition 2: Facilitate and lead collaborative programmes where only working together can achieve the change that’s needed
Geraldine Blake, Director of Collaboration and Development and Louise Henry, Collaboration Manager
It’s been a busy year for Propel, our long-term funder collaboration that we launched in 2022. It’s been full of highlights and learnings with the first round of funding going out to London’s civil society, 87% of which went to organisations led-by-and-for communities. Perhaps our biggest highlight has been the connections and relationships built within the Propel community.
We kicked off the year with a Welcome Breakfast for grantees, which was buzzing with excitement, and had such a good turnout that we ran out of chairs. The appetite to come together was palpable, with over 100 community organisations, funders and equity partners meeting to share ambitions for the years ahead, hear the experiences of young assessors, and network with new peers.
More recently, we’ve held co-design sessions to learn from grantees about how we can better design a funding programme that works for them and that meets their needs. Creating the space for grantees to share their experiences honestly and openly with Propel partners, to share constructive criticism and celebrate successes is to us, a step in the right direction towards sharing power and working in partnership together.
Helen Mathie, Director of Partnership and Place
One of my highlights has been continuing to work with the brilliant London's Giving network. As a network, it's filled with generous people willing to share their ideas and learning - whatever challenge, or issue that people are grappling with, there is always someone to offer guidance or ideas. For me, it shows that collaboration happens on a lot of different levels, from big collective projects but also those smaller connections which are often the things that spark change. This year we've been busy thinking about what comes next after London's Giving (which will have run for 10 years by March 2024!). We're really excited to be launching a new Resource Hub for place based giving which will bring together capacity, connections, practical support and advocacy to help take place based giving to a ‘new level’. So watch this space and get involved!
Ambition 3: Drive a learning culture, where shared data, intelligence and insight lead to better decision-making and action
Jessica Allsop, Team Coordinator and Grace Perry, Head of Programme Delivery
A highlight of the year was starting a six-month trial of new ways of working in October. We are a small team with big ambitions who all share a passion and commitment to delivering for our members and communities. But this dedication can sometimes have an impact on people’s wellbeing and work-life balance.
That’s why it’s been important for us to understand how London Funders as an employer can create a culture that encourages wellbeing and personal growth, but still gives us the time to get the job done as effectively as possible. We’re seeing more and more evidence come out on the 4-day week and how originations were adapting to trial it…and that 92% of those in the trial stuck with it! As we began our own research we felt London Funders could offer something slightly different, and the result is a trial involving flexible options for people’s working weeks. As we approach the three-month mark we are collating our learning to help us evaluate the journey, looking at what’s working (and isn’t) and how it works both for individuals and the organisation. We look forward to sharing our learning more widely as the trial progresses.
Malene Bratlie, Learning and Communications Manager
One of my highlights this year was our annual Festival of Learning, which is a key part of our ambition to drive a strong learning culture across our membership. The hosts and participants shared a phenomenal depth and breadth of insights (captured here) and what struck me was the appetite members have for not only taking steps to make their funding practices more equitable, accessible and effective but also their willingness to share what they’re learning with others in the process.
Another highlight for me has also been the process of developing a new learning strategy and putting that into practice – this has involved exploring in depth the issues and ideas that cut across our membership – from how we address the power imbalances inherent in the funding system to reconsidering how we manage risk. By digging deeper into these areas through events, workshops and member blogs, we’re gaining a better understanding of the action we need to take, both individually and collectively to make funding more effective and better meet the needs of civil society and communities.
James Banks, Chief Executive
London has always been a global city, and we've learnt a lot this year from engaging with colleagues across the world - bringing ideas to London from taking part in learning conferences in Croatia, philanthropy networks in Kenya, and funder collaborations in Ireland - and inviting new ideas from places as diverse as Newfoundland, New York and New Zealand. Many of the themes of our learning programme this year - on power and risk - have resonated with our international colleagues, and many of the ideas emerging from these dialogues will shape our learning work in the year to come, kicking off with more on participation in the new year. We've learnt more about collaborating with communities - from indigenous people’s groups to grassroots poverty action - and have been bringing this thinking in to shape the new vehicle for funder collaboration that we'll be launching in the new year.
The intersection between people, place and policy has also been at the forefront of our minds in these global dialogues, bringing a new urgency and excitement to our work on place that will grow through the place-based giving Resource Hub work mentioned above. We've found much in common with the challenges and opportunities we face in London when talking to colleagues in other cities, as well as much to challenge us. We hope to build on these networks in the coming year as we look to how we collectively tackle some of the challenges we need to face together - from the climate crisis to poverty and injustice holding back our communities.