Participatory Grantmaking in Gosport

We’re putting decision making and grants design into the hands of local people and organisations in Gosport.

People living in and working in a place often have the best understanding of what that place needs to thrive. Yet, all too often they are left out of the decision-making process.

This participatory grantmaking project will move beyond the more familiar territory of community consultation and engagement to create a truly co-designed funding opportunity to tackle health and activity inequalities.

We want to learn more about participatory grantmaking and understand how putting lived experience of physical inactivity at the centre of the process, could lead to empowerment for residents and a fairer and more sustainable funding programme for activity providers and communities.

A panel of residents and local representatives are involved right from the very beginning. We’re not looking for anyone with previous experience as the group will be guided through the process in workshops hosted by expert facilitators, Camden Giving. Together they’ll debate and decide on:

• Purpose and goals for the grant
• What should be included in funding criteria
• The application questions and process
• How to score applications consistently
• Who receives funding

The group will also share their thoughts of the experience to help us understand the impact of the programme.

The panel in Gosport will be made up of between 8 and 12 people.

We’re looking to work with local organisations that directly deliver services to people in Gosport and can commit the time to share their learning and insight about these communities.

In addition, we’re asking that these organisations invite a service user to bring their lived experience to the grantmaking panel. Ideally these people will be a diverse group of individuals that have experience of being inactive.

The workshops will take place in person in Gosport and run weekly with additional dates for assessing funding applications and visiting successful projects later in the year.

Join us for a launch event on 12^th February.  We’ll run through the criteria for applying in further detail as well as the timeline and process for submitting an expression of interest.

Hosted by Grants Manager Emma Dovener, we’ll be joined by the team at Camden Giving so you can ask questions about Participatory Grantmaking and the application process.

Here’s a few things you’ll need to know if you apply and are chosen to take part in Gosport’s Participatory Grantmaking panel:

• Organisational time will be reimbursed at the living wage rate.
• Individual participants will be paid for their time at the living wage rate and will need the ability to invoice us, this can be through their service organisation.
• We can connect people to Citizens Advice, to help residents that want to get involved but may be worried about how it affects other income.
• To help tell the story and impact of Participatory Grantmaking in Gosport participants should be willing to share their experience, this could be through case studies or formal impact reports published on websites, social media, or at events.