Investing with and for the community: creating a Community Endowment Fund
Event Information
About this Event
In December 2020, Barking and Dagenham Council took the landmark decision to enter a partnership with Barking and Dagenham Giving to create a Community Endowment Fund with an initial investment of £650k. The money collected from the Neighbourhood Community Infrastructure Levy will be invested to create a permanent, inclusive and sustainable source of income for the community.
Bridging the worlds of community participation and finance, this discussion will explore the participatory process that will see the local community take a ’stake’ in deciding how these resources are invested, how these investments are monitored, and how the income generated is spent locally.
Barking and Dagenham Giving is a local funder underscored by a spirit of collaboration and inclusion with a simple belief: that the people impacted by funding decisions should be the ones making those decisions. Our mission is to support everyone in Barking and Dagenham to play a part in creating meaningful change by uniting ideas, energy and resources around common causes.
Amid the turbulence of last year, we were able to increase our reach and our funding by a substantial amount, which allowed us partner with two foundations and the council to distribute almost £200,000 in grants to over 30 local organisations and individuals using a participatory grant-making approach.
