Foreword

Dan Paskins, February 2025 (Chair of Civic Power Fund board)

As the recently appointed chair of the Civic Power Fund, I am delighted to have this opportunity to write a Foreword for Funding Justice 3, our innovative analysis of social justice philanthropy in the UK.

The data in this report provides invaluable insights into grantmaking for social justice. We estimate that social justice grants represent less than 5% of the funding provided by the UK’s leading grantmakers, and that grants supporting grassroots community organising currently account for around 0.2%.

The Civic Power Fund was established in 2021 to grow the resources available for grassroots community organising. In our first 2 years we distributed £1 million in multi-year grants to 35 grantee partners, pooling funding from 21 separate donors, the majority of whom had not previously funded community organising. We are very grateful to all the organisations, partners, individuals and donors who have supported us, and without whom this work would not have been possible.

The need for building and nurturing the power of communities to fight injustice has never been more urgent.

Against the backdrop of stagnating economic growth,¹ over 20% of the population is living in poverty, including more than three in ten children.² These economically disadvantaged communities are bearing the brunt of declining public services, further entrenching inequality in the UK.³⁴⁵

At the same time, political polarisation is deepening and support for the far-right is growing.⁶ Trust in democratic institutions is at an all-time low,⁷ and our civic space is being eroded.⁸ Beyond our borders, deepening geopolitical tensions, a second Trump presidency, and the escalating impacts of climate change add to the insecurity and uncertainty of our time.

To respond to these challenges, those of us working to advance social justice will need to act quickly in moments of crisis, while also investing for the long term to build power and strong relationships within and between communities. I am proud that within a month of the racist riots in the UK in the summer of 2024, CPF was able to distribute over one hundred grants to local community groups through its Emergency Action Fund, while also resourcing long term work to build the power of migrants and of young people.

We also want to celebrate the emergence of new funder initiatives that are helping to get money to communities experiencing disadvantage, so that they can build power to tackle the inequality and inequity that blight so many lives. These include:

• The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust’s Grassroots Movements Fund and the National Lottery Community Fund’s new Community Power programme, which are both dedicated to supporting grassroots power-building work;
• Funders for Race Equality Alliance and the Baobab Foundation, two examples of funder initiatives tackling the root causes of racial injustice;
• The Power of Pop Fund, which is a pooled fund supporting organisations using pop culture and creativity to advance justice in the UK;
• Alliance for Youth Organising, supported by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, and the Blagrave Trust, and hosted by the Civic Power Fund, is a pooled fund investing in youth organising infrastructure and organisations;
• The Civic Power Fund’s Community Action Fund has found and funded emergent grassroots organising work across the UK;
• London Funders which has used pooled funding to quickly distribute money to the grassroots during emergencies, and to shift power to communities with its charitable company Collaboration Circle;
• LocalMotion, which secured £18.4m to continue investing in empowering communities in local decision-making in six locations in England and Wales;
• The Smallwood Trust which is supporting grassroots women’s organisations to drive systems change in their communities;
• Paul Hamlyn Foundation’s Backbone Fund and the National Lottery Community Fund’s second new funding programme are both bringing needed investment to the infrastructure that is vital in supporting social movements;
• The Social Change Nest and The Movements Trust, whose fiscal hosting services enable many unconstituted organisations to receive funding.

We are excited to see some of the leading funders in the UK support community organising and power-building work, and we hope others reading this report will consider adding their support to the initiatives listed here. These are vital first steps, but this research shows that we have a long way to go to redirect and mobilise philanthropic funding so that it serves the urgent needs of marginalised and minoritised communities. Please join us as we take on this challenge.