Social Change

Our interests in Social Change are in addressing the needs of people in society who suffer the effects of institutional injustice or those who have not enjoyed the kinds of opportunities in life that many of us take for granted.

Social Change currently accounts for over half the Foundation’s Main Fund grant-making, totalling £14.5 million in 2012 and £59.6 million over the last five years. Our interest in social change spans a wide range of voluntary sector activity.

Our approach to funding work in this area is flexible and needs based and we do not make grants according to a priority list of topics or beneficiary groups.  We try to be responsive and base our decisions on whether the proposed work does some of the following:

• Tackles institutional barriers to genuine participation in society
• Redresses unfairness, injustice and inequality
• Explores ways to change 'the system' (e.g. to do things better, to be more just, to reach more people, to save money)
• Deals with problems in all their complexity rather than just focusing on one element
• Confronts causes not symptoms.

We also favour organisations/ideas that:

• Are creative in how they achieve results, as when activities have multiple benefits or create virtuous circles
• Deliver new solutions to long-standing, and seemingly intractable, problems.

Our funding has supported organisations combating domestic violence, upholding the rights of looked after children and people who have been trafficked for labour or sexual exploitation as well as those helping ex-prisoners successfully re-integrate back into society.  We have also made grants for work that improves the policy environment and strengthens democratic institutions. 
In essence our interests in Social Change are in addressing the needs of people in society who suffer the effects of institutional injustice or those who have not enjoyed the kinds of opportunities in life that many of us take for granted.

Please also see the Foundation's priorities.