Grant-making strategy (2021-2022)
Our 2021 grant-making priorities form the basis on which we will develop our new five year grant-making strategy. We have a particular interest in supporting projects that are focused on housing and racial equity, the impact of Covid-19 on housing opportunity and inequality, and strengthening the voices of people with lived experience.
We seek to fund initiatives rooted in a deep understanding of the experiences of people facing homelessness; proposed solutions should be those identified by the people closest to the problem.
Outcomes: working towards long-term change
Through our grant-making, we want to achieve long-lasting systemic change. We support efforts that:
- Build a strong civil society that includes organisations and groups led by people experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity and are equipped to advocate for substantial changes in practice and policy.
- Strengthen advocacy, grassroots action, and campaigning through better access to knowledge, data, and legal systems.
- Ensure equitable access to secure homes through an intersectional approach, where racism and poverty are challenged, and opportunities exist for everyone with housing need.
2021 priority grant-making themes
Our funding addresses three themes: renter rights; supply and access to affordable homes; and reduction in homelessness.
Renter rights
We support organisations that:
- help renters on low income to access decent homes at genuinely affordable rent levels;
- promote fairer tenancy agreements and end unfair evictions; and
- uncover and challenge discrimination in housing.
Supply and access to affordable homes
We support organisations working to increase the supply of and access to affordable homes that:
- campaign to improve the supply of affordable homes;
- support different models of community ownership that benefit people with the greatest housing need; and
- empower communities to advocate for more homes that meet housing need.
Reduction in homelessness
We support organisations working to reduce homelessness that:
- improve joined-up policy and service provisions;
- develop stronger advocacy and campaigning on hidden homelessness; and
- improve equitable access to supported housing and suitable longer-term housing options.
Our grant-making principles
Systemic change requires long-term commitment, so our grants are mainly multi-year, and our funding relationships can stretch beyond five years. Therefore, we work towards strong grantee partnerships, where learning between ourselves and our partners is shared. Our funding is primarily by invitation only, and we engage with projects that are rooted in social justice, tackle structural inequalities and/or take a rights-based approach. We take time to listen to organisations to understand how their work fits with our strategy, before we ask for a written proposal. Please note that we do not provide capital funding.
When we invite organisations to apply for a grant, we seek clarity on the issue to be addressed, who will benefit, why the work is needed, and the extent to which the work is informed by lived experience. We will also ask the potential partners to explain how they will use the funding and how they know that their approaches are effective and will have an impact.
We will look for evidence that:
- people with lived experience have been engaged in the development of the proposed model; and
- the groups who will benefit are those who are the most disadvantaged and are living in/or at risk of living in poverty
We encourage potential partners to remain in contact with us during the development of the grant application. We want to hear from people who will be involved in the delivery of a project and best to identify measurable outcomes. In addition, we want to understand what has not worked well in the past and what has been learned as a result.