THEMES
EDI
Innovative Funding
Our Approach
UK grantmaking is not sufficiently equitable and inclusive toward organisations led by and for intersectional communities.
The National Lottery Community Fund has devolved funding powers to LGBT+ Consortium - a national umbrella organisation that hosts the UK’s largest network of LGBT+ community and voluntary organisations - in order to deliver a pioneering fund. The LGBT+ Futures: Equity Fund is a participatory (grant applications are reviewed by a panel of people with lived experience) and specialist fund aimed at organisations led by and for intersectional communities.
Historically, participatory grantmaking has been regarded as risky or too difficult. However, LGBT+ Consortium is doing an excellent job as intermediary grant-makers, demonstrating what’s possible and the value of distributing funds equitably.
The Project Brief
We're delighted to be evaluating the fund from start to finish, collecting evidence of its impact and success, and distilling the 'active ingredients' of the innovative grant model.
©Sydney McCourt for Opening Doors
The CSC team has seen first hand the structural barriers and implicit biases present mainstream grant-making. Through our flagship initiative 'Steps to Sustainability’, we provide capacity-building to organisations led by and for marginalised communities. Drawing from this experience, we aim to provide the Consortium, and the LGBT+ sector, with the evidence needed to put forward a strong case for continued investment in LGBT+ communities.
We evaluated the first phase last year in an interim report, which focused on the grant-making process and the effectiveness of delivery. This report went on to secure additional funding for the LGBT+ Futures fund to continue.
The final evaluation, published in November 2023, expanded on the insights from the interim report, specifically focusing on capturing the overall impact of the fund.
LGBT+ Futures: Equity Fund Evaluation
PROCESS
Participatory Research
Evaluation
Mirroring the approach that LGBT+ Consortium takes to distributing funds, we adopted a co-productive and participatory approach. We worked alongside the Equity Fund team, the National Lottery Community Fund team that supports them, as well as the organisation leaders who make up the grant-making panels and the grantees themselves.
First, we set up a steering group composed of three representatives of grant recipient organisations and three community panellists, with all five communities of focus represented. Next, we surveyed and interviewed grant recipients, showcasing the impact of grant-funded activities and on intersectional LGBT+ organisations themselves, thereby capturing the value of a specialist fund like the Equity Fund.
The impact of the Equity Fund on LGBT+ communities was measured against Consortium’s Common Outcomes Framework (see final report), which describes outcomes and impacts that LGBT+ organisations contribute to in the communities they work with.
Impact
The final report concludes that the Equity Fund is a truly participatory grant making mechanism that not only invests in intersectional LGBT+ communities, but it, as present, one of the only viable sources of funding for organisations that serve them.
Consortium continues to work with stakeholders and partners on moving this work to its next phase. We are excited to see what 2024 holds!