Impact Grant Insights

Impact Grants Insights

Our Impact Grants Programme was launched in January 2018 following a strategic review of the Foundation’s grant-making. The programme provided grants of up to £150,000 over three years to organisations addressing priorities in Arts with Social Impact, Opportunities and Life Chances, and Resource Sustainability.

The Foundation received a total of 54 Impact grants requests. Twenty-seven were approved resulting in investment of £2.67 million across the three priorities. Twenty-three applications were declined and 4 withdrew during the application process.

 

Funding Focus

The Impact Grants programme explored local responses to the Foundation’s primary interests in the arts, environment and social welfare.

Half of our Impact grants were made to locally based organisations, acknowledging the value of the relationships and knowledge that these organisations have of local communities.  We have made some steps towards our ambition to be a ‘place based’ funder and invested in the capacity of Buckinghamshire’s voluntary and community sector.

Our funding has also been utilised to bring specialist expertise or resource into the county where we felt it could complement the local context and half of our Impact grants were awarded to regional or national organisations.

We have learnt that this works best when there is genuine investment in local assets and respect for the value of local knowledge, such as employing a locally based coordinator.  We have also recognised that successful local and national collaboration includes co-production with local stakeholders.

Impact Grants have invested in county-wide strategic initiatives which facilitate better coordination and amplify the voices of Buckinghamshire residents. We want to equip local leaders with the resource needed to maximise opportunities in Buckinghamshire.

 

We want to equip local leaders with the resource needed to maximise opportunities in Buckinghamshire.

Buckinghamshire Food Partnership

You can learn more about how national food charity Sustain supported plans for a local food partnership here:

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Reporting back

Impact grant holders set outcomes to work towards over the funding period. We learnt that such a rigid reporting structure was onerous for our grantees, who balance the reporting requirements of multiple funders and respond to knowledge acquired during project delivery.  We are using this learning to make changes to how we approach future reporting for grantees.

We are using this learning to make changes to how we approach future reporting for grantees.

Impact Grants - Covid-19 Response

Our Impact Grant holders were resilient to the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic and adapted their programmes to meet the needs of their beneficiaries, often through digital delivery.

The Rothschild Foundation made additional funding available to Impact Grant holders so they could invest in digital capacity, specialist equipment and new ways of working necessitated by social distancing restrictions.

 

THINKING DIGITAL – ONLINE SKILLS SHARING

Participants at a Stephen Spender Trust Translation in Schools workshop at the Dairy, Waddesdon

Impact grant holders Buckinghamshire Culture, Garsington Opera and Resource Productions hosted an online event for the creative and cultural sector sharing digital adaptations and innovative virtual delivery skills. You can read more about this digital workshop here:

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