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Supporting places that have missed out on funding

Introduction

As a funder, it’s important to us that our grants are distributed equitably. Here we show a range of approaches we’ve taken over the years to fill funding gaps and tackle the challenge of fragile local infrastructure.

We share what we’ve learned from strengthening the capacity and capability of local organisations, helping people access funding, and supporting communities to identify and address their priorities.

Why this matters

We know that resources, infrastructure and social capital are vital components of a thriving community. Those are especially needed in communities that have faced deprivation and decline.

At the same time, some of the communities most in need of investment have the fewest established charities, networks, community groups, and social enterprises to make use of these resources.

Large regeneration or physical infrastructure investments are important, yet are often time bound, high-cost, one-off endeavours. They don’t always build communities for the long term, potentially leaving residents feeling disappointed.

Therefore we’ve often seen a pressing need for funding over a sustained period that nurtures and strengthens social capital, as well as the places and spaces that communities depend on.

What we've learned

Strenghtening local capacity and skills

Project funding on its own isn’t always enough. Targeted grants may be needed to help local organisations develop the capacity, skills, and infrastructure needed to make most of the available opportunities.

Partnerships

A partnership with the Young Foundation, to link local groups with specialist organisations to strengthen their skills and capacity.

Grants

A participatory grant making event, where residents got to vote on which projects to fund from a £70,000 pot.

Collaboration

Partnerships that linked small local groups with larger national organisations, so each could help the other by combining resources with on-the-ground local expertise.

Growth and strength

Since putting this in place, we’ve given out an increasing number of larger awards in Torbay, suggesting that the local voluntary sector is getting stronger. In the 3 years up to 2020, there were only 6 grants over £10,000 in the area. From April 2020 to December 2022, this increased to 21.

Key learnings

Through this work, we learned that building local capacity is a continuous process which, over time, creates sustainable social infrastructure to receive and make an impact with funding.

We also learned it takes time for this capacity building work to have an effect. Even to get to the point of being ready to independently apply for funding can take groups several years.

Finally, connecting national or regional partners to work alongside smaller local groups can help with this, as well as helping larger groups to build trust and understand local issues.

Enabling greater community ownership

Community ownership can act as a lever for a greater investment. We’ve seen this in Powys, where our support for community land ownership gave local people the opportunity to take control of their outdoor spaces and develop them for recreation and tourism.

In 2018, the local council found itself unable to afford to maintain green spaces in Newtown. This created an opportunity for the community to become more involved in managing these spaces. We funded a new community organisation – Open Newtown – to take ownership of 130 acres of outdoor space in the town.

This was one of the largest ever transfers of land into community ownership in Wales.

Over time, Open Newtown transformed the land from “acres of mown desert” into a set of outdoor assets that the whole community is proud of. The project has put in place 4,500 new trees, a BMX track, a play park in the town centre, a cycle storage hub, and access points along the river.

Through this work, we learned that funding a single large asset transfer rather than several smaller projects can lead to greater local impact. Especially when the community is actively involved.

And, it requires intensive and careful work, including making sure that there are strong working relationships between all parties involved.

Also, large-scale investment of this nature can serve as a lever for spin-off activities. Open Newtown was able to secure rural development funding for a low-carbon transport initiative on the back of this project. And it now has enough land to make it an important player in local environmental issues.

Money and control to communities to address local priorities

Most funders respond to community needs by funding an array of individual projects. Through Big Local, we tested a more joined up, whole place approach, which gave local people the freedom to:

  • allocate funding

  • use it to address local priorities

  • support projects that could leverage external funding

CELL Big Local in Northumberland, made up of the villages of Cresswell, Ellington, Linton and Lynemouth, was the first of these areas to distribute all its funds. The key results include:

  • the initial investment of £1.16 million growing into a final total of £3.2 million

  • 40 initiatives added to the activities and amenities available locally

  • the proportion describing their area in positive terms rising from 58% in 2013 to 70% in 2020

We learned from the work of CELL Big Local

Resident-led decision making at this scale might feel risky to funders. However, this experience showed that residents take great care of money entrusted to them. In fact, people pride themselves on seeking out low or no-cost options that can maximise the overall value of the investment.

Residents may be cautious about spending too quickly, but confidence builds with support, highlighting the value of matching longer-term investment with capacity building.

Visiting other communities can give residents ideas for how to invest in their areas. But they may need help in planning strategically to ensure they don’t plan unconnected initiatives.

Evidencing how local solutions are well received and make a positive impact can lead to additional funding being secured.

Giving people a direct say builds the community’s overall sense of ownership and control.

Local coordination to engage residents and unlock investment

Better local coordination can help small, informal community groups be more than the sum of their parts. Logistical support can free others up to focus their skills and experience into frontline delivery.

We did this in Northern Ireland where housing estate residents often form community groups, with the aim of improving local services.

However, due to their informal nature, these groups may not be eligible for funding that could make a positive difference in their community.

In 2018, West Armagh Consortium (WAC), an umbrella body including 8 of these groups, approached us for funding that would support people living in the most deprived parts of the area.

With support from us, WAC engaged over 400 local people as participants, volunteers and organisers, and delivered an extensive and diverse range of activities.

We learned that WAC’s position as a local coordinating organisation and partner with the council and statutory bodies enabled local groups to focus their skills and experience into service delivery.

And, being people-led enables organisations to flex and adapt to what the community wants. As a result, WAC developed new services that that weren’t central to the group’s approach at the start of the project.

Helping communities to diversify funding

Professional support to help community organisations can help long-term sustainability and avoid overreliance on a single source of funding.

We saw this in Clackmannanshire where in 2018, 5 community halls were facing closure. This risked the facilities transferring reliance from 1 single source of funding (the local council) to another.

We identified that a more sustainable, long-term solution would be to support the halls to move to a blended model, with self-generated income, long-team leases, and grants from a range of funders.

Therefore we gave a £50,000 grant to pay a development worker to help the groups achieve this.

This led to 2 main solutions for the ongoing running of the facilities:

  • outright purchase through external funding

  • long-term leases with no rental costs

Both solutions meant the groups wouldn’t need to spend energy and income on raising money to purchase the facilities themselves, and the council would be free of the ongoing running costs.

Through this work, we learned that professional support can help community organisations be better organised, more informed about funding opportunities, and find longer-term, financially sound options.

Long-term investment to tackle funding cold spots

For areas that have struggled to access funding, developing local networks that produce joined-up plans can help present a more long-term case to funders.

In 2002, we endowed £50 million to establish the Fair Share Trust (FST), to address why some parts of the UK were finding it harder than others to access funding.

FST ran for 10 years, with the the Trust providing money and capacity building support to 80 funding cold spots across the UK.

Local agents set up panels of residents and representatives from charities, businesses and public sector bodies. These set the local priorities, provided local insight, and made recommendations about what should be funded.

Fair Share was successful in getting over £50 million into areas that had previously struggled to access National Lottery funding. 

We learned that:

  • this directly benefitted over 250,000 people

  • this support and demonstrable experience of successful project delivery gave credibility to funded organisations, helping them become a more attractive proposition to funders

  • many grew and became more financially stable, which in turn built their confidence to apply for and manage further grants

  • for every £1 put into the endowment, the local partnerships raised an additional 50p, totalling £25 million of new income

What did we learn from the initiative?

Key learnings include:

  • the 10-year length of the initiative was crucial because long-term funding allowed more strategic thinking and the flexibility to adapt

  • building capacity takes time; most additional funding was obtained after at least 5 years

  • deciding which areas and neighbourhoods to focus on should be done in conjunction with local people and stakeholders

Key messages

There is no one single formula for getting resources into areas that need it the most, but we know it takes more than just funding. It also demands patience, a willingness to let communities to take the lead, investment of time to be more locally connected, and an appetite to experiment.

Communities with limited social infrastructure can benefit from support to strengthen local capacity and skills, help in building community connections and ownership, and opportunities to bring charities, infrastructure organisations and local authorities together to find creative and cost-effective solutions.

Tracking the long-term impact of place-based investments, while meeting the demand for funding to address the immediate pressures, enabling charities and communities to deliver here and now, is a difficult balancing act.

Long term funding enables local organisations to do deeply rooted, cross-community work that few other providers are equipped to offer.

Find out more

We carried out this research in 2023. You can find more examples in the full report, Strengthening communities: Strategies for supporting places that have missed out on funding.