Strong communities start with the people who know them best.
Each year, we invest in local projects that make a real difference to the people who live in our communities. We work closely with local organisations, charities and community groups that know their area best and have built trust with local people.
Before we decide where to invest, we take time to understand what matters most. We listen to our customers, use feedback and local data, and draw on the knowledge of our colleagues who work in our communities every day. This helps us focus our support where it can have the biggest impact.
We work alongside our partners, support them throughout their projects and make sure our customers help shape the decisions we make. We also work with our contractors to bring even more social value into our communities.
Ultimately, our goal is to build community capacity from within so that communities are better able to support themselves for years to come.
What we support
We mainly fund local, grassroots organisations that are already making a difference in our communities. Some projects have been running successfully for years, while others are new ideas with the potential to create lasting change.
As well as funding activities, we can also support the organisations and community-led hubs behind them. Sometimes this means helping with everyday running costs so they can spend more time supporting local people and less time worrying about funding.
Watch the video below to find out more about this work and hear from some of our long-term partners:
Community Grant Funding
Heartbeat
We have three key priorities when looking at which projects to fund:
Priority 1 – Improving Safety and the Local Environment
We support projects that help people feel proud of where they live. That could mean improving shared spaces, helping people care for their local area or bringing neighbours together to make positive changes. We also support projects that help people feel safer and know where to turn for advice and support.
Priority 2 – More Inclusive Activities and Opportunities
We have worked with Civil Society Consultants to understand how we can better support our delivery partners. Their work highlighted that everyone should have the chance to take part in activities, learn new skills and enjoy experiences that many people take for granted. This could be something as simple as a community outing to the beach or to a pantomime. These kinds of projects not only open up experiences but can also build community trust and provide opportunities for support agencies to engage with people in a relaxed and informal environment.
Priority 3 – Improving Physical and Mental Well-being and Tackling Loneliness
Social isolation can lead to a number of physical and mental well-being challenges and know how important trust is when delivering activities that tackle loneliness. We support projects that aim to improve physical and mental wellbeing and help people build lasting friendships and support networks.
Measuring our impact
We use simple surveys and feedback to understand how people's lives have changed, and we listen to their stories about what the project has meant to them. This helps us learn what works, improve the support we provide and make sure our investment continues to benefit our communities.
We also use Most Significant Change methodologies to capture the detail of the projects’ journeys and improve the quality and consistency of the stories we are able to tell.
