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Home » Research & Articles » How Islington Council’s Community Chest funding supports and reaches into BAMER communities
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The Islington Council’s Community Chest (ICCC) Programme successfully demonstrates its ability to support residents from BAMER backgrounds. Monitoring data from the 2018/19 Islington Council’s Community Chest (ICCC) Programme demonstrate the Programme’s reach into and support for BAMER communities in Islington who experience high levels of disadvantage and inequality: As the chart below highlights, 65% of total beneficiaries from the Programme in 2018/19 were from BAMER backgrounds. More information and data relating to the ICCC Programme can be found in the 2019/20 annual report.
BAMER organisations are successfully applying to the ICCC Programme and, proportionally more receive funding compared to those that apply. In 2019/20, just over a third (36%) of total applications and almost 40% of successfully funded organisations (22 out of 57) were from organisations, either working specifically with, or with a significant majority of beneficiaries from BAMER backgrounds.
Some of the key characteristics of the ICCC Programme that help to enable this successful reach are outlined below:
In summary, while many of the characteristics highlighted above are important for the success of any small grants programme, they are also specific factors that have enabled the ICCC Programme to support small BAMER organisations locally. The strength of the Programme is in its reach into local communities and how it can help make a real difference to isolated and marginalised residents, many of whom are from BAMER backgrounds.
This positive local picture appears to buck the national trend where funding is failing to reach BAMER communities and the voluntary and community organisations set up to support them. Despite this positive impact, a note of caution should be applied. The ICCC Programme offers small grants where the maximum income threshold for applying is £100,000. It is evident that prioritising funding specifically for small, local grass-roots community organisations is a strength of the Programme, and has enabled us to support BAMER communities. However, could it also be a potential weakness and perhaps indicative of a deeper underlying structural issue for Islington’s voluntary and community sector in Islington more widely? When one looks at the local picture, the number of bigger BAMER- led organisations (which for the purposes outlined here are defined as over £100,000 income) falls away significantly, particularly when compared to the thriving grass-roots base identified and celebrated here. Does this point to a potential gap where smaller local BAMER organisations are not making the developmental jump to grow into larger more sustainable organisations and/or funders, both local, regional or national are not investing in organisations that are applying for funds to develop and grow?
Notwithstanding this concern, there are many small grass-roots organisations that are good at what they do and have significant reach and trust of local communities precisely because they are small and, for many reasons, do not wish to grow into larger organisations – where “success” is measured only in terms of growth in annual income and number of beneficiaries. This is where the ICCC Programme fits, and its impact and support is so important. Moreover, as the case-studies below demonstrate, the Programme has proved to be a vital source of support that has enabled organisations to quickly adapt and respond to meet the needs of BAMER communities when the need is greatest, such as that experienced during the Coronavirus pandemic.
Below you can find some case-studies of how ICCC funded organisations have supported Islington’s BAMER communities during lockdown
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Cripplegate Ltd is the registered trustee of Cripplegate Foundation
Registered Charity 207499 Cripplegate Foundation Limited
Registered in England and Wales, Company Number 6129936 © 2021 Cripplegate Foundation
Cripplegate Ltd is the registered trustee of Cripplegate Foundation
Registered Charity 207499 Cripplegate Foundation Limited
Registered in England and Wales, Company Number 6129936 © 2023 Cripplegate Foundation