Last month, London Funders published A Year of Giving, which celebrates the work of London’s growing network of place based giving schemes. To coincide with the launch, Kristina Glenn, advisor to London’s Giving and co-founder of Islington Giving, reflects on why this is the moment for place based giving to flourish.
Place has never been so fashionable. Government, think tanks and funders, are all looking at their agendas through the lens of place. If covid taught us one thing, it’s the deep human need for connections. Ironically when we were most physically isolated, we were most dependent and closely linked. Locked in our homes, we were acutely aware of the need to reach out and be curious about others.
The pandemic has changed how we all understand place. Working at home has meant that we have, perhaps for the first time, spent time in our neighbourhoods. We used small independent retail and service businesses, we’ve visited parks, walked in local streets, met our neighbours and grasped some of the issues that face our local community.
It’s easy to get place-based giving mixed up with grant making or fundraising. There’s nothing wrong with making grants as part of what we do. But at London’s Giving, we’ve always been clear that place based giving is not just another way of giving grants locally. Frankly, there are often other organisations who can do this and who are even better placed at doing it than a giving scheme.
Which is why we come back to our principles – everyone has something to give, a shared understanding of local aspirations and needs, listening to people, collaborating and our independence. All of these things underpin what place based giving is really about.
We’ve often talked about bringing the unusual suspects together. What would Google have in common with refugees in Camden, or Macquarie with the residents of the New River Green estate? Place based giving is about changing how people work together and making it easy for everyone to get involved. Schemes bring together people with different perspectives. A strong evidence base is one of the building blocks to success, but evidence only gets you so far. What is important to residents now is always the question.
So, with all these tools, what can we do?
Place based giving is a compelling way to bring change. I would argue that the real prize for place based giving is influence and systems change rather than grant making. Influencing how different partners work – businesses, Councils, voluntary organisations and funders. We have an independent voice, deep local knowledge and passion which translates into a unique role. And we’re here for the long term.
With all that we know, with all our connections, what’s the potential? Are we a movement and what can this place based giving movement do now?
Last month, London’s Giving schemes came together in person for the first time in over a year. We saw incredible energy, creativity and ideas as we reflected back on what has been achieved over the past year, and discussed ways we can work together on issues that address our principles of equity, diversity and inclusion.
So, the challenge is – place based giving has achieved remarkable things in such a short time. Are we up for our influencing role? Do we see social change as our agenda? What can we do together to put our movement on the map? It’s our time and I think we have the skills and knowledge to do this.