<![CDATA[WALCOT FOUNDATION - News]]>Sat, 28 Feb 2026 11:41:48 +0000Weebly<![CDATA[Update on changes coming in 2026]]>Mon, 15 Dec 2025 13:18:33 GMThttps://www.walcotfoundation.org.uk/news/update-on-changes-coming-in-2026As the year comes to a close, we would like to take a moment to inform you about upcoming changes in the way we make grants. We plan to undertake further consultations on our plans in early 2026, but wanted to let partners know as early as possible that changes are coming.  

For community organisations working in Lambeth, you may have already noted that in recent years we have moved from having three ‘open’ grant rounds to two. The process for these rounds starts with an expression of interest call, followed by some organisations being invited to make a full application and then some of those receiving a grant. We now plan to reduce our open grants round to one in 2026/27 and replace the second grant round with directly commissioned new work.  

To be clear, we are not reducing the amount of money that we want to see going to community organisations, but are adding a different way for money to flow into Lambeth. Any methodology used to make grants privileges some and disadvantages others, so we want to increase the ways that we can make grants, build stronger relationships and support change.  

Other key changes to our grant-making we are proposing in 2026 include. 

Changes to the grant amount and grant types 

We want to be able to offer more core grants rather than project funding. Our current maximum grant is £30,000 per year, but with rising costs across the board, we know this isn't enough for many of the pieces of work that you’re doing. We want to raise the maximum grant to £50,000 per year and give organisations the opportunity to access grants for 1, 3 or 6 years. However, we also know we have a limited pot of money every year, and so this will mean fewer organisations receiving grants. Although the total amount of money going out on grants will not reduce, we are expecting the total number of partners we work with to fall over the coming years as we transition from around 125 to closer to 75. 

Applications and reporting 

We plan to change the way applications can be made, making this more accessible to a wider range of groups and reducing the focus on narrow ‘outputs’ and ‘outcomes’ solely related to project-based work. More importantly, we wish to update the way you report on the work that you are doing and the impact you are having, focusing on meaningful conversations (both with us and small groups of local partners/peers). We plan to create new platforms to share and collaborate and hope that by facilitating more open dialogue about the work that is being done, the wider Lambeth community can support and learn from one another. 
 
Timeframes and next steps 

The next round of consultations on our plans will take place in early 2026, if you would like to be involved or to provide feedback, you can do so by attending the next Lambeth Peer Support Network meeting (taking place on the morning of 15th Jan @ Roots and Shoots), via a 1:1 call/meeting with a grants team member or anonymously using our grants feedback form. 

We will then be launching our next open grant round for both schools and community partners in April. This will be the only opportunity in 2026 to apply directly to the Foundation for funding and following this we will be commissioning work in the second half of 2026, based on an analysis of our grants portfolio and where gaps exist.  
More details on these changes and a full timetable for applications will follow early next year but for now we wanted to give you a heads up. 

If you would like to book a time to talk to us about our plans or tell us about yours, please do reach out.  

We hope you get some time for rest and celebration over the next few weeks.  

The Walcot Grants Team]]><![CDATA[katakata supporting people with a disability into work]]>Wed, 19 Feb 2025 13:41:41 GMThttps://www.walcotfoundation.org.uk/news/number-of-disabled-people-who-cant-find-a-job-is-increasing
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Great to learn that our partners at Katakata have been recognised for their wonderful work via a Big Issue Change Maker Award and have also recently been featured on Channel 4 news, highlighting their incredible inclusive hiring practices. https://www.channel4.com/news/number-of-disabled-people-who-cant-find-a-job-is-increasing​

Figures released recently suggest the proportion of disabled people who want a job but cannot get one is increasing.

]]><![CDATA[Update on grantmaking practices at the Walcot Foundation]]>Thu, 31 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.walcotfoundation.org.uk/news/update-on-grantmaking-practices-at-the-walcot-foundationAt the end of 2023, the Walcot Foundation governor trustees signed off our strategy - the first one in the organisation’s 350 year history. The first three sections relate directly to our grant-making activities and should be of most interest to you if you’re reading this... 

Over the past few months, we’ve been working on our business plan. This will help us put into practice what we want to achieve in, with and alongside, the community. Each of those three sections (primarily related to grant-making) has a number of activities that we think will move us towards realising our aims.
  
The grant-making world, and wider philanthropy, has been pushed into a reckoning with itself and there are questions that need to be answered, such as around how we generate income. But there are also lots of lingering tensions - what roles should we play?  Are we replicating or enhancing harms caused by the system our wealth is built on? What’s the appropriate balance between short-term need and future visioning? Are our processes and practices reflective of the world we want to see?

Giving time and space to discuss some of these issues, has meant adjusting how we see ourselves as part of Lambeth’s ecosystem and changing the patterns of behaviours, mindsets and practices that we are engaged in while making sure that we are able to continue delivering the good work we have been providing as per standard. We were going to let you all know further details about these changes once they had been confirmed and business plans were signed off - but perfection is the enemy of progress and so we decided to update you all now.  

The "How we’ll do this” parts of the strategy are the new or formalised pieces we’ll be working on the coming years.  We think this will help shift us from solely a funder to a more active and appropriate actor in supporting the local ecosystem to thrive, and, by extension, work towards living our mission.
  
The most immediate change that some of you have spoken to us about is the reduction of open grants rounds from three to two per year. Historically, the only way an organisation could get funded by Walcot was through an open grant round. We will not stop having open grants rounds, and the vast majority of funding will still happen through this approach. However, since the introduction of our first thematic cohort programme (BounceBack) in 2021, we acknowledged that we needed the flexibility to be able to work with people on different terms.

Every way of making grants privileges some people and disadvantages others so as a way of creating a different kind of space to redistribute some of our resources, we have reduced the number of open grants rounds to two per year and adjusted the amount of money in those “pots”.  However, we wish to be clear that the grant budget for the 24/25 financial year will still increase from the previous year.  

What those different spaces look and feel like we’re not sure yet but we hope that we can work together to help create a more equal society in Lambeth and beyond. 

We’ll also be sharing our first Approach to Change - an adapted and hopefully more appropriate Model/Theory of Change - in the near future which we hope will indicate some of our thinking as we continue on this journey.  

The Walcot Foundation Grants team ]]><![CDATA[Walcot Foundation’s response to the recent racist violence across the UK]]>Mon, 19 Aug 2024 11:47:20 GMThttps://www.walcotfoundation.org.uk/news/walcot-foundations-response-to-the-recent-racist-violence-across-the-ukFirstly we offer our condolences to the three beautiful talented young girls who were horrifically and senselessly murdered.

We were saddened by the recent racist violence that took place in towns and cities across the UK following these tragic deaths. We wish to share our support and solidarity with those affected by the acts of violence both offline and online. Walcot Foundation condemns these and any efforts to sow discord, division and hate in and amongst communities. Such actions stand against everything we believe in.

As one of the funders dedicated to servicing and supporting diverse communities across the London Borough of Lambeth, we stand with all of our communities to work together to reduce and remove social, economic, structural and institutional barriers preventing young people from thriving.

We are communicating with all the organisations and individuals we support to ensure we are doing what we can to support them during these fractious times.

If you would like to, you can donate funds to support important work taking place across Lambeth, focused on young people and their hopeful endeavours to play their part as members of diverse inclusive cohesive communities. 

]]><![CDATA[walcot partner with impact on urban health to support schools with universal free school meals rollout]]>Fri, 26 Jan 2024 07:42:34 GMThttps://www.walcotfoundation.org.uk/news/walcot-partner-with-impact-on-urban-health-to-support-schools-with-universal-free-school-meals-rolloutFollowing the introduction of the Mayor of London universal primary free school meals (UFSM) policy this academic year, Impact on Urban Health (IOUH) and the Walcot Foundation have entered into partnership to offer up to £3000 of grant funding to Lambeth primary schools needing to upgrade their kitchen equipment and/or facilities in order to deliver on this policy.
 
To apply Lambeth primary schools will need to complete a short application form (taking no more than 10 minutes), applications will then be assessed via a local decision-making panel.

A frequently asked questions document can be found here and the application form can be completed via the below link.
 
Lambeth Schools UFSM Roll Out Fund application
 
The deadline for applications to be submitted is Friday 1st March 2024. ]]><![CDATA[Walcot strategic plan released]]>Thu, 21 Dec 2023 14:25:53 GMThttps://www.walcotfoundation.org.uk/news/walcot-strategic-plan-released
The Walcot Foundation is very proud to be able to share our new strategic plan, agreed in consultation with the community in Lambeth. 

The new plan will allow us to better understand the community we are here to serve and to keep the Foundation informed, relevant and effective in all that we do.  

This includes five clear aims which we believe will allow us to help create transformative opportunities, promote greater equality and to provide the best support so that Lambeth young people can build brighter futures. 

You can read more about our vision, mission, values and strategic aims in the full document here 
]]><![CDATA[Walcot's Foundation Practice rating Results]]>Fri, 24 Mar 2023 09:32:35 GMThttps://www.walcotfoundation.org.uk/news/walcots-foundation-practice-rating-resultsWe are really pleased that Walcot Foundation received an A rating in the 2023 results for the Foundation Practice Rating initiative.

Foundation Practice Rating aims to improve practice across the grant-making sector on the key themes of acocuntability, transparency and diversity.  They have created a four level rating system (A, B, C, D) where Foundations are scored against information they provide about themselves on their public information (e.g. website, Charity Commission).  This research was carried out by Giving Evidence and over 100 Foundations were reviewed from ACF’s top 300 list using this rating system.   This is the second year of the initiative.

This year, seven Foundations achieved an A rating, which is an improvement on last year when the FPR announced its first ever set of results and awarded three A ratings. The Foundations that received an A rating vary in size and structure (Walcot Foundation, Oxfordshire Community Foundation, John Ellerman Foundation, Blagrave Trust, Wellcome Trust, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and Paul Hamlyn Foundation).
Although, we weren't selected in Year 1, we found the Foundation Practice Rating was a really helpful tool for us in reviewing our public information and our processes.  It helped spur us on to improve our practice.  During 2022, we carried out the following improvements:
  • Published diversity of staff and trustees on our website.
  • Added UserWay to our website to make it more accessible.
  • Added information about applicant success rates and clearer about who makes grant decisions.
  • Published our investment strategy and our Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion statement on our website.
  • Published our trustee recruitment, staff recruitment and salary policies on our website.

For the coming year, we support Foundation Practice Rating's #Three Commitments Campaign.  Over this year, we will: 
  1. Publish details on plans to improve diversity in staff/Governors
  2. Publish bios about Governors and senior staff
  3. Have clearer ways of communicating complaints/whistleblowing issues on the website

]]><![CDATA[Funding priorities review – your opinions needed]]>Mon, 23 Jan 2023 13:17:47 GMThttps://www.walcotfoundation.org.uk/news/funding-priorities-review-your-opinions-neededThe Walcot Foundation Governor Priorities help guide the type of projects that we fund within our focus on Lambeth low-income residents. We typically review these priorities every three years.

If you would like to contribute to our current review you can do so by completing our strategy survey.  This should take no longer than 10 minutes.  

Please keep in mind that our charitable objects require that ALL our funding must be focused on Lambeth beneficiaries and 85% needs to be spent on projects which relate to education, training and employment for under-30s.

The survey will run until 20 February and the new Governor Priorities will be published on our website by July 2023.  As well as this survey and our tri-annual 'Listening to Grantees' exercise, we are running further focus groups, stakeholder interviews and undertaking desk research to inform the new strategy.  ]]><![CDATA[Our response to the Cost of Living Crisis]]>Tue, 22 Nov 2022 09:51:01 GMThttps://www.walcotfoundation.org.uk/news/our-response-to-the-cost-of-living-crisisPicture
The ongoing cost of living crisis is causing significant hardship to many Lambeth residents and local organisations are facing the twin struggle of their own rising costs coupled with increased demand for services.

In response to this, Governors of the Walcot Foundation have added an additional £300K to our annual grants budget in order to provide some assistance. 

This includes:
  1. Support for Lambeth residents in crisis: £50K grant to Norwood and Brixton Foodbank to enable the four Lambeth Trussell Trust foodbanks to provide supermarket vouchers and energy top-up payments to foodbank guests.
  2. Increased support to individual grantees: Current Walcot university student grants increased from £1,500 per year to £1,800 per year and all new applicants can apply for increased maximum of £1,800 (additional total cost - £60K)
  3. Support to local organisations: Cost of living crisis top-up grants to local organisations with currently funded projects (£190K).  This is to help organisations (in a small way) with the increased costs over the winter.  These grants are unrestricted and do not need to be reported on.  The size of the grant is linked to the turnover of the organisation (under £50K turnover - £1.5K grant; £50K-£500K turnover - £3K grant; £500K-£1m turnover - 5K grant).
]]><![CDATA[Winn & Coales (Denso) LTD making a difference with local Projects]]>Fri, 14 Oct 2022 13:52:10 GMThttps://www.walcotfoundation.org.uk/news/winn-coales-making-a-differencePicture
West Norwood based firm Winn & Coales (Denso) Ltd is continuing to generously support local community projects with donations totaling £45,000. 

It has made a £20,000 donation to Rathbone Youth Centre's Inspiring Learning Project.  This is the second year of a three year commitment.  As Charline King, Head of Children and Young People' Services says, "We would like to thank Winn and Coales for their long-term support.  This three year funding from Winn & Coales has been crucial in enabling us to be able to offer long-term mentoring and education support.  The three-year funding enables us to build and strengthen our relationships with the young people and their families, to be fully embedded with our community and partner schools and to provide continuous support over time to young people to make progress with their learning."
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Also, in response to the cost of living crisis, Winn & Coales has made a £25,000 donation to Norwood and Brixton Foodbank.  As energy bills and food prices rise, more and more local residents are being pulled into crisis.  The Foodbank is facing significant growing need in what is likely to be a very busy winter.  This donation will enable the Foodbank to lease an electric van and hire a driver for a year so as to expand the number of home deliveries they can make to clients that find it difficult to make it to the centres.  This will be particularly beneficial to elderly and disabled clients.
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