Aims and activities
Aims and questions
Aims and activities
Our aim is to ensure that funding, and the funding decisions that are made, make the most impact possible by being driven by needs of local children and young people and the organisations that support them.
In order to support effective funding which meets need in the short and long term, we believe that further clarity is needed on how national funding can best interact with the ‘local ecosystem’, allowing strategic funding decisions which address the needs of funders, local providers and most importantly the children and young people they seek to support.
In short, we want to provide guidance on what ‘funding local well’ looks like in practice, for funders and for the youth sector, co-designed with both.
To do that, we need to answer the following questions:
· What are the key functions of a strong and vibrant local ‘ecosystem’ or space, which works together for the best interests of young people?
· How should local ecosystems ideally align and interact with systems and functions at regional and national levels?
· What role should funders ideally play within these ecosystems or spaces to maximise funder impact and value? How do we ensure funders are critical elements of these ecosystems, not outsiders looking in?
· What does this look like in practice? Can we provide some concrete examples? Can we pilot some work now to inform longer term learning?
How to get involved
We would welcome other funders and infrastructure organisations to join us in this collaboration. Please contact Justin Watson at YPF Trust if you are interested in finding out more.
Who's involved
Who was involved
Who was involved
Group members currently include BBC Children in Need, John Lyons Charity, Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS), The National Lottery Community Fund, Westminster Foundation, Young Kensington and Chelsea, Young Manchester, Youth Focus North East (representing the Network of Regional Youth Work Units) and YPF Trust.
Empowering Local was originally developed as part of a wider children and young people funder collaboration that also led to the creation of Youth Voice in Funding and Infrastructure Support in the Youth Sector. The chairs of these three funder collaborations regularly meet to co-ordinate their activities.
Learning and Resources
We are in the process of delivering initial research on the national role of funders in place-based work with children and young people. More information can be found here.
