Network: We’ve funded over 8,000 projects in the 40 years since we started

As a group, we fund social change projects beyond the familiar mainstream charities. Some are led by the people impacted by the issue they work on (client-led). Some funding is for groups advocating for specific policy changes. By relying on each other’s expertise and spreading the risk, we find and fund important and cutting-edge projects.

Our projects range from small, local organisations to major UK-wide policy initiatives, as well as projects overseas. 

About 80% of our funding is charitable, awarded by Network for Social Change Charitable trust (NSCCT).

Charitable grants

Some 20% of the funds we give are non-charitable, and goes through Funding for Social Change Ltd (FSC). This may be because the recipient organisation is not constituted, or is overseas, or not undertaking charitable work.

Non-charitable grants

In the last year (2022-23) we continued to fund through our Major Projects programme, as well as through Pools and Fast Track grant streams. For previous years’ reports, these are available as PDFs.

Charitable Major Project grants 2022-23

These are normally grants for 3-6 years, with annual sums of £100,000 – £250,000. In 2022-23 our 4 Major Projects were:

  • Green Alliance for Cutting Carbon UK, providing policy research for Government in support of the UK’s carbon targets under the Climate Change Act.
  • Permaculture Association, for Landworkers’ Alliance, a transformational grant to enable the scaling up of their member-led network of farmers and land-based workers.
  • Labour Rights, a group of projects addressing justice for workers and protecting labour rights. Violation Tracker blows the whistle on corporate malpractice; Cat’s Cradle provides worker training and education; Working Families campaigns on the Employment Bill.
  • Windrush Justice, in partnership with other funders and Action for Racial Equality, this project seeks justice for those people whose UK citizenship is impacted by the “hostile environment”. Most victims are originally from Jamaica, Nigeria, Ghana and Barbados.

Charitable Pools grants 2022-23

Generally one-off funding up to £20,000. There is one round per year. Charitable Pools grants in 2022-23 were:

  • Able Child Africa For an innovative disability-inclusive mental health guide and ‘toolbox’ for children and youth in Rwanda
  • APPEAL Working for a fairer justice system; challenging wrongful convictions and suppression of evidence by police
  • Artis For a primary school performing arts programme in deprived areas
  • Belong For Amplify, a project to support women in Drake Hall Prison (Midlands) who are caught up in the criminal justice system  
  • Clowns without Borders For their project Wiggle, working in Syria and Turkey with traumatised refugee children
  • Finance Innovation Lab For Transforming Finance: A manifesto for positive change and regulatory reform
  • Gaia Foundation For Oikologica, a Forum of Independent Lawyers, training lawyers from indigenous and marginalised groups in India
  • Gambling with Lives For a pilot education project to prevent gambling harm in young people
  • Global Girl Project Core funding for mobilising girls in the global south to become leaders in families and communities
  • Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit  For Torture ID, helping newly arrived asylum seekers to provide evidence of torture, and lobby for early trauma screening
  • Hear Me Out Music New music programmes for a range of immigration detention facilities
  • Ice and Fire Theatre To develop a theatre play “The Divide – A Brief Guide to Global Inequality and its Solutions”
  • Independent Diplomat For their Meet the Parties project, creating an impartial platform for conflict prevention and resolution
  • Labour Behind the Label To challenge online fashion retailers selling out on workers’ rights in Turkey
  • Lansbury House Trust Fund For War Resisters International to run an Antimilitarist Campaigning Lab for young people to play key role in resisting militarism
  • London Waterkeeper For their campaign for “A Swimmable Thames”, publicising water pollution events
  • Marmot Charitable Trust For Zero Hour, promoting the Climate & Nature Bill, aiming to cease fossil fuel investments and restore nature
  • Migrants Organise Core funding for work seeking to overturn the “hostile environment” policy
  • Omega Research Foundation Dealing with the disproportionate use of force by UK police, particularly against BAME communities
  • Open Trust For Open Democracy, holding authorities to account through Environmental Information Regulations (EIRs)
  • Peace Brigades International UK Supporting and protecting land, environmental and indigenous defenders
  • Peace Direct For Strength from Adversity, connecting young climate activists in Afghanistan, Syria, Kenya and Lebanon
  • PORA Zimbabwe  For Gokwe Rape Emergency Aftercare Service 
  • Possible (The 10:10 Foundation) For a Judicial review aiming to bring the government’s ‘Jet Zero’ aviation strategy within its climate commitments
  • Prism Youth Centre  For Breathing Spaces 2, helping100 vulnerable teenagers in Bradford engage with an inner city farm for rescued animals
  • Saheliya Glasgow social enterprise, practical support for minority women who have experienced racial inequality
  • Survivor Alliance UK Leadership programme for UK survivors of modern slavery
  • The Kittiwake Trust Multilingual Library in Gateshead, following eviction by landlord and move to new site
  • Tiyeni  Creating a hub and training programme for Deep Bed Farming in Malawi
  • Transform Justice CourtWatch project to increase oversight of our courts and promote community ownership of justice
  • Wellsprings Together Funding a Bradford-Iona Activists Retreat, an intergenerational, multi-faith and no-faith retreat to support community activists
  • Wildlife & Countryside Link For the Nature 2030 project: protecting the marine environment through policy and marine protected areas
  • Women Working Worldwide For Beauty Without the Beast: empowering women in global supply chains to claim their rights (Kenya)
  • Able Child Africa For an innovative disability-inclusive mental health guide and ‘toolbox’ for children and youth in Rwanda
  • APPEAL Working for a fairer justice system; challenging wrongful convictions and suppression of evidence by police
  • Artis For a primary school performing arts programme in deprived areas
  • Belong For Amplify, a project to support women in Drake Hall Prison (Midlands) who are caught up in the criminal justice system  
  • Clowns without Borders For their project Wiggle, working in Syria and Turkey with traumatised refugee children
  • Finance Innovation Lab For Transforming Finance: A manifesto for positive change and regulatory reform
  • Gaia Foundation For Oikologica, a Forum of Independent Lawyers, training lawyers from indigenous and marginalised groups in India
  • Gambling with Lives For a pilot education project to prevent gambling harm in young people
  • Global Girl Project Core funding for mobilising girls in the global south to become leaders in families and communities
  • Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit  For Torture ID, helping newly arrived asylum seekers to provide evidence of torture, and lobby for early trauma screening
  • Hear Me Out Music New music programmes for a range of immigration detention facilities
  • Ice and Fire Theatre To develop a theatre play “The Divide – A Brief Guide to Global Inequality and its Solutions”
  • Independent Diplomat For their Meet the Parties project, creating an impartial platform for conflict prevention and resolution
  • Labour Behind the Label To challenge online fashion retailers selling out on workers’ rights in Turkey
  • Lansbury House Trust Fund For War Resisters International to run an Antimilitarist Campaigning Lab for young people to play key role in resisting militarism
  • London Waterkeeper For their campaign for “A Swimmable Thames”, publicising water pollution events
  • Gaia Foundation For Oikologica, a Forum of Independent Lawyers, training lawyers from indigenous and marginalised groups in India
  • Gambling with Lives For a pilot education project to prevent gambling harm in young people
  • Global Girl Project Core funding for mobilising girls in the global south to become leaders in families and communities
  • Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit  For Torture ID, helping newly arrived asylum seekers to provide evidence of torture, and lobby for early trauma screening
  • Hear Me Out Music New music programmes for a range of immigration detention facilities
  • Ice and Fire Theatre To develop a theatre play “The Divide – A Brief Guide to Global Inequality and its Solutions”
  • Independent Diplomat For their Meet the Parties project, creating an impartial platform for conflict prevention and resolution
  • Labour Behind the Label To challenge online fashion retailers selling out on workers’ rights in Turkey
  • Lansbury House Trust Fund For War Resisters International to run an Antimilitarist Campaigning Lab for young people to play key role in resisting militarism
  • London Waterkeeper For their campaign for “A Swimmable Thames”, publicising water pollution events
  • Marmot Charitable Trust For Zero Hour, promoting the Climate & Ecology Bill, aiming to cease fossil fuel investments and restore nature
  • Migrants Organise Core funding for work seeking to overturn the “hostile environment” policy
  • Omega Research Foundation Dealing with the disproportionate use of force by UK police, particularly against BAME communities
  • Open Trust For Open Democracy, holding authorities to account through Environmental Information Regulations (EIRs)
  • Peace Brigades International UK Supporting and protecting land, environmental and indigenous defenders
  • Peace Direct For Strength from Adversity, connecting young climate activists in Afghanistan, Syria, Kenya and Lebanon
  • PORA Zimbabwe  For Gokwe Rape Emergency Aftercare Service 
  • Possible (The 10:10 Foundation) For a Judicial review aiming to bring the government’s ‘Jet Zero’ aviation strategy within its climate commitments
  • Prism Youth Centre  For Breathing Spaces 2, helping100 vulnerable teenagers in Bradford engage with an inner city farm for rescued animals
  • Saheliya Glasgow social enterprise, practical support for minority women who have experienced racial inequality
  • Survivor Alliance UK Leadership programme for UK survivors of modern slavery
  • The Kittiwake Trust Multilingual Library in Gateshead, following eviction by landlord and move to new site
  • Tiyeni  Creating a hub and training programme for Deep Bed Farming in Malawi
  • Transform Justice CourtWatch project to increase oversight of our courts and promote community ownership of justice
  • Wellsprings Together Funding a Bradford-Iona Activists Retreat, an intergenerational, multi-faith and no-faith retreat to support community activists
  • Wildlife & Countryside Link For the Nature 2030 project: protecting the marine environment through policy and marine protected areas
  • Women Working Worldwide For Beauty Without the Beast: empowering women in global supply chains to claim their rights (Kenya)

Charitable Fast Track grants 2022-23

Generally one-off funding of £5,000 – £8,000. In 2022-23 we awarded 44 charitable Fast Track grants through 4 funding rounds. Grants were:

  • ACES (Association of Coastal Ecosytems Services)  For Tropical Research & Conservation Centre Nigeria, for 700 biomass cooking stoves in mangrove conservation area
  • Afghanistan & Central Asian Association Supporting displaced refugees with crisis and integration issues, now including support for refugees from Ukraine 
  • African Refugee Community  Staff support in Barnett for services for asylum seekers from mainly French-speaking African countries
  • Alternatives to Violence (AVP) Jordan Workshops for refugees and host communities in Jordan
  • Art Against Knives Core funding to boost capacity and deliver services to vulnerable young people
  • Aviation Environment Trust Challenging ‘Jet Zero’ – the Department of Transport’s policy framework which continues to promote aviation expansion
  • Black Girls Hike Environmental summer camp for 70 black women at Green & Away education centre in Worcestershire
  • Burma Human Rights Network Documenting human rights violations and accountability in Myanmar
  • Centre for Innovation in Voluntary Action  For the intrapreneurs.club for Apprentice Pathway Programme, helping young, diverse and low income people to secure careers in IT
  • Chaffinch  Stack the Library for Kibera’s Kids – helping Nairobi’s vulnerable children access vital resources
  • Coventry University Gun Crime Violence among Palestinians in Israel: Strategies to reduce violence  
  • Criminal Justice Alliance  Leadership programme for lived experience voices: advocacy, training and expertise in the criminal justice system
  • Cyclox For Oxfordshire Livable Streets, for a cycle and pedestrian plan, re-prioritising space from cars to cycling, walking and other public uses
  • Devon Centocow Link  First-Aid training for pre-school staff in Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa
  • Eastside Community Trust  For Eastville Park Lido CIC to bring back a lido in ethnically diverse East Bristol
  • Falklands Stewardship Trust  Groundswell Outreach venture “GO Falkland”, to promote regenerative farming in Scotland
  • Fences & Frontiers Expanding museum and countryside visits for asylum seekers in Glasgow, Birmingham and Cardiff
  • Foundation for Integrated Transport  For Transport Action Network’s legal fighting fund to bring UK national roads policy within the UK’s carbon budget
  • Institute for Development Studies New Lucas Plan, exploring opportunities for a worker/citizen-led transition to a green economy
  • Joliba Trust Income-generating project for rural Malian women, producing cooking oil and soap from Balanites tree kernels
  • Labour Behind the Label Researching LGBTQ+ garment workers stories in UK and global supply chains
  • Medical Justice Interpreters for detained torture survivors for immigration medical assessments
  • Meri Yaadain CIC  Dementia support for South Asian communities in Bradford and beyond
  • Next Century Foundation For Justice Congo Group for awareness-raising about how mining for smartphone minerals in DRC is terrorising local communities
  • Platform Recipe for a Revolution project in Tower Hamlets, minority-led food justice research & movement building
  • Prism City Farm  Bradford Breathing Spaces project using holistic eco-therapy to  help young people in mental distress
  • Public Interest Research Centre Decolonising Narratives: Transforming civil society communications, for organisations within its network
  • Real Farming Trust Bringing the UK farmland trusts together: for closer collaboration and more effective movement building
  • Red Balloon Educational Trust  Replacement of outdated laptops for teenagers who have been bullied, traumatised and excluded from school
  • Somewhere Else Bridging gaps in provision for refugees and asylum seekers in Stockton-on-Tees 
  • StandOut Programmes Expansion of employability programme at HMP Wormwood Scrubs
  • Sussex Green Living Regrow & Repair Roadshow in Sussex to promote lifestyle changes that reduce pressure on the planet
  • Tanzania Development Trust  Borewells and rope pumps for 5 locations in rural Tanzania
  • The BEARR Trust UKRAINE: Winter Aid appeal – grassroots grants
  • The Congo Tree Youth development work in the Democratic Republic of Congo, inspiring and supporting young leaders
  • The Eden Trust Youth Environmental Service aiming for every young person in the UK to have the opportunity of a year’s environmental service
  • The Girlington Centre  Refugee Support Group in Bradford, for practical and legal support for refugees
  • The Movements Trust  For Wild Card, grassroots campaigning for the UK’s biggest landowners to rewild and open up their estates to all
  • Therapeutic Art Zambia Using art to increase dignity and care for people with poor mental health in Zambia
  • Time for Art  Creative art sessions for asylum seekers in hotels in Oxfordshire
  • Upper Space CIC For Adfree Cities Research into how billboard ads deepen existing social inequalities
  • War on Want Keeping the Hope Alive: fighting for ecological justice in Chile’s Constitutional Process
  • Wild Fish Conservation Judicial Review of the UK Government’s inadequate plan to reduce dumping of raw sewage into rivers
  • Young Sea Changers Scotland Empowering young people in Scotland to take action for the seas
  • ACES (Association of Coastal Ecosytems Services)  For Tropical Research & Conservation Centre Nigeria, for 700 biomass cooking stoves in mangrove conservation area
  • Afghanistan & Central Asian Association Supporting displaced refugees with crisis and integration issues, now including support for refugees from Ukraine 
  • African Refugee Community  Staff support in Barnett for services for asylum seekers from mainly French-speaking African countries
  • Alternatives to Violence (AVP) Jordan Workshops for refugees and host communities in Jordan
  • Art Against Knives Core funding to boost capacity and deliver services to vulnerable young people
  • Aviation Environment Trust Challenging ‘Jet Zero’ – the Department of Transport’s policy framework which continues to promote aviation expansion
  • Black Girls Hike Environmental summer camp for 70 black women at Green & Away education centre in Worcestershire
  • Burma Human Rights Network Documenting human rights violations and accountability in Myanmar
  • Centre for Innovation in Voluntary Action  For the intrapreneurs.club for Apprentice Pathway Programme, helping young, diverse and low income people to secure careers in IT
  • Chaffinch  Stack the Library for Kibera’s Kids – helping Nairobi’s vulnerable children access vital resources
  • Coventry University Gun Crime Violence among Palestinians in Israel: Strategies to reduce violence  
  • Criminal Justice Alliance  Leadership programme for lived experience voices: advocacy, training and expertise in the criminal justice system
  • Cyclox For Oxfordshire Livable Streets, for a cycle and pedestrian plan, re-prioritising space from cars to cycling, walking and other public uses
  • Devon Centocow Link  First-Aid training for pre-school staff in Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa
  • Eastside Community Trust  For Eastville Park Lido CIC to bring back a lido in ethnically diverse East Bristol
  • Falklands Stewardship Trust  Groundswell Outreach venture “GO Falkland”, to promote regenerative farming in Scotland
  • Fences & Frontiers Expanding museum and countryside visits for asylum seekers in Glasgow, Birmingham and Cardiff
  • Foundation for Integrated Transport  For Transport Action Network’s legal fighting fund to bring UK national roads policy within the UK’s carbon budget
  • Institute for Development Studies New Lucas Plan, exploring opportunities for a worker/citizen-led transition to a green economy
  • Joliba Trust Income-generating project for rural Malian women, producing cooking oil and soap from Balanites tree kernels
  • Labour Behind the Label Researching LGBTQ+ garment workers stories in UK and global supply chains
  • Medical Justice Interpreters for detained torture survivors for immigration medical assessments
  • Meri Yaadain CIC  Dementia support for South Asian communities in Bradford and beyond
  • Next Century Foundation For Justice Congo Group for awareness-raising about how mining for smartphone minerals in DRC is terrorising local communities
  • Platform Recipe for a Revolution project in Tower Hamlets, minority-led food justice research & movement building
  • Prism City Farm  Bradford Breathing Spaces project using holistic eco-therapy to  help young people in mental distress
  • Public Interest Research Centre Decolonising Narratives: Transforming civil society communications, for organisations within its network
  • Red Balloon Educational Trust  Replacement of outdated laptops for teenagers who have been bullied, traumatised and excluded from school
  • Somewhere Else Bridging gaps in provision for refugees and asylum seekers in Stockton-on-Tees 
  • StandOut Programmes Expansion of employability programme at HMP Wormwood Scrubs
  • Sussex Green Living Regrow & Repair Roadshow in Sussex to promote lifestyle changes that reduce pressure on the planet
  • Tanzania Development Trust  Borewells and rope pumps for 5 locations in rural Tanzania
  • The BEARR Trust UKRAINE: Winter Aid appeal – grassroots grants
  • The Congo Tree Youth development work in the Democratic Republic of Congo, inspiring and supporting young leaders
  • The Eden Trust Youth Environmental Service aiming for every young person in the UK to have the opportunity of a year’s environmental service
  • The Girlington Centre  Refugee Support Group in Bradford, for practical and legal support for refugees
  • The Movements Trust  For Wild Card, grassroots campaigning for the UK’s biggest landowners to rewild and open up their estates to all
  • The Real Farming Trust Bringing the UK farmland trusts together: for closer collaboration and more effective movement building
  • Therapeutic Art Zambia Using art to increase dignity and care for people with poor mental health in Zambia
  • Time for Art  Creative art sessions for asylum seekers in hotels in Oxfordshire
  • Upper Space CIC For Adfree Cities Research into how billboard ads deepen existing social inequalities
  • War on Want Keeping the Hope Alive: fighting for ecological justice in Chile’s Constitutional Process
  • Wild Fish Conservation Judicial Review of the UK Government’s inadequate plan to reduce dumping of raw sewage into rivers
  • Young Sea Changers Scotland Empowering young people in Scotland to take action for the seas

Download 5-year Funding Reports in PDF format for Network for Social Change Charitable Trust.

2019-23
2015-19
2011-15
2008-11
2004-07