The funding scene across the UK changed with the pandemic. A shift to be more open, flexible and agile was needed, and Barnwood Trust’s funding programmes followed suit.

In this blog, we explain what has changed in our funding programme, and why, as well as how we believe our new approach can facilitate positive change for disabled people and people with mental health conditions across Gloucestershire.

A new climate for funding

The pandemic in 2020 represented a shift for the UK’s philanthropic and grant funding sector. Almost overnight, funders throughout the UK became more open, flexible, and agile, removing some of the administrative burden on organisations working on the frontline.

Barnwood followed suit. Demand for the Trust’s grants for individuals increased rapidly between 2020-2023, and remains high, with the Trust unable to meet the needs of everyone who applies. Demand for funding from organisations and groups has grown too since 2020, and both the type and level of need have shifted. An ask for short-term grants for short-term work before and during the pandemic has been replaced by a need for core funding over a longer period, and for cash that allows organisations to be responsive to the changing needs of their users and clients.

While we know that this need for core funding has always been there, we also know that UK charities have been programmed to ask for the least and to promise to achieve the most. A change of mindset among funding organisations like ours is long overdue, particularly in this climate of ongoing challenge and adjustment.

The role of funding in change-making

Simultaneously, Barnwood has been growing its role as an agent for social change, and it has become clear that our funding has a major part to play in this. Barnwood’s Board of Trustees agreed to increase our available funding to £20 million between 2022 to 2026 (see our blog ‘The 20 million pound question’). This meant we needed to evolve our offer to learn what types of funding, and for which types of work and organisations, can make the greatest possible difference to the lives of disabled people and people with mental health conditions. To answer this question, we needed to rethink our approach.

Barnwood’s funding programmes

In 2023, the Trust closed applications for a period, to re-design the process, the eligibility criteria and the evaluation requirements of the organisations we fund. What emerged in the Autumn of 2023 was two programmes:

• The Individual Grant, which is now delivered through a network of Community Partners.
• The Funded Partner Programme, which has three funding categories that enable small and large groups and organisations to apply for funding that is appropriate for them, for work which directly supports Barnwood’s strategic goals and vision.

Evaluations in 2022 and 2023 from the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) supported this work, as well as learning from other funders and charities both locally and nationally.

In addition, the Trust also continues to run:

• Themed Funding, such as the Digital Inclusion Fund and the Short Breaks Project Funding. Funding programmes like these – which have set outcomes, time periods and a heavy emphasis on learning and evaluation – is to support the Trust to uncover solutions to specific barriers for disabled people and people with mental health conditions, so that we can then use this to effect change in practice and policy. Themed funding rounds are co-designed with Experts by Lived Experience, and they also play a role in scoring and decision making. See our blog Involving Experts by Experience in awarding funds (thinknpc.org).

A major change for us is our unapologetic focus on our strategy, and only funding work and organisations that align with it. We have learned that Barnwood cannot fund every cause in the county, and our criteria are designed to ensure that positive outcomes for disabled people and people with mental health conditions are now at the heart of every pound we distribute.

Conscious funding approaches

To support all of these programmes, we revisited our Funding Principles. We re-worded the principles to align directly with the Open and Trusting Funding campaign run by IVAR, which holds funding organisations to account for being as flexible and transparent as possible. Our commitment to these principles and this campaign, together with our strategic goals at the centre of the change we want to see through our funding, means that by 2026 we will have a better understanding of how our funding can best facilitate change.

Involving people with lived experience of the causes we fund in both the design and decision-making process is also now a core principle for us; we must be accountable to the people the Trust is driving social change for, and involving them in this process is essential.

The amount of funding we will have available is likely to be much lower in 2026 and beyond (see our blog ‘The 20 million pound question’). This means that using this period to understand what type of grant-making leads to the best outcomes for disabled people and people with mental health conditions is absolutely essential, as it will determine our funding strategy for future years.

Funding through partnership working

This commitment also speaks to how we want to work with the organisations that we fund, and the organisations that we work through to distribute funding to individuals. Embedded in each of our funding programmes is now a recognition that the organisations that we fund – or that we award funding through, in the case of individual grants – are our social change partners.

For the Funded Partner Programme, this partnership ethos begins at the application stage, with Barnwood team members offering support and guidance on our criteria, timeline and processes to applicants – organisations doing work that aligns with Barnwood’s strategy. This continues through the duration of the Funded Partner’s grant, with supportive and learning-focused conversations about the outcomes of the funding. We want to learn about the journey of the organisation, and the impact of their funded work for disabled people and people with mental health conditions.

We also commit to linking Funded Partners with each other through convening activities and networking to share learning, resources and create connections. We hope that, by doing this, good practice in a range of inclusive contexts and spaces can be spread throughout the county and beyond. We believe that sharing what works will make long-term social change more likely.