Guest Blog from CBF's Anchor Programme: The Interlink Foundation
The Anchor Programme is an innovative funding programme from City Bridge Foundation, London’s biggest independent charitable funder. The programme awards long-term core funding to second tier organisations providing support to London’s frontline groups. Whilst different in focus and approach, these organisations are all driven by equitable practice and focus on systems change to address the marginalisation and discrimination experienced by those with intersecting identities. The Social Innovation Partnership is the Learning Partner for the programme, and works with the funded organisations to harness their collective learning to reach the aims of the programme. In this series of blogs, we speak to the first round of organisations funded - Dovid, CEO of The Interlink Foundation speaks about the initial impact of the fund and the learning partnership:
What does Interlink do and what is your mission?
Interlink is the infrastructure organisation* for Charedi (Orthodox Jewish) voluntary organisations across the UK. There are over 200 members currently part of the organisations. At Interlink, we focus on three key areas of activity to create the change we want to see in the world. These are:
Policy and advocacy
Providing capacity-building support for member organisations
Partnership facilitation and development
What does the Anchor Programme mean to you and what will you be doing with the Anchor funding?
Anchor provides us with a runway of opportunity. It allows us to break free from the cycle of project fundraising, management, and evaluation—and then repeating the process. The Anchor Programme enables us to think strategically about the key issues facing our communities, envision potential solutions, and identify the partnerships, resources, and skills needed to drive meaningful change.
What matters to the communities you work with and why?
What matters most to our communities is the ability to experience equality in service provision and access across the UK. It is equally important for us to witness a reduction in prejudice and hate, alongside increased acceptance and respect for our culturally and religiously distinct way of life.
The communities we work with have a long history of experiencing antisemitism. A millennia of being "othered" has fostered a culture of self-reliance within these communities and has created significant barriers to accessing mainstream services. As a result, systemic inequalities continue to be perpetuated. Adherence to cultural and religious practices is a core value within our communities; however, this is becoming increasingly challenging in a society where fewer people identify as religious.
Through this fund, how is your organisation redistributing resources?
Because of this fund, we are able to dedicate staff time to proactively work on reducing inequalities rather than reactive firefighting which we have been forced to do previously. We are also now able to dedicate more staff time to research issues that will then serve as an evidence base for our longer-term advocacy goals.
How will the Anchor Programme enable you to build, maintain or enhance relationships?
The Anchor network in itself is an invaluable relationship resource. We have also dedicated some staff time to developing and improving the civil engagement of the Charedi community, including developing links and building connections with local MPs across London. While this was always an aspiration, dedicating it as a specific role has allowed us to action this and, more importantly, to follow up consistently.
What systems are you looking to influence?
There is a prevailing assumption in the public sector that 'universal' means 'the same.' This assumption has far-reaching consequences, as many public services adopt a one-size-fits-all approach that fails to address the distinct needs of minority communities. If we can collectively challenge this mindset and influence local authorities and government to craft policies and commission services that are responsive to the diverse needs and circumstances of different communities, we will have achieved a significant milestone.
How can Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) organisations bring about structural change, and how is the Anchor Programme influencing this?
Led-by-and-for VCS organisations are the first line of response for the most vulnerable in our communities, with the ability to identify and provide insight into emerging needs on the ground. In our experience, frontline VCS organisations deliver significant value by operating in a highly agile and responsive manner, while being more cost-effective due to their cultural awareness and competence.
Infrastructure organisations like Interlink play a crucial role in driving structural change. They coordinate and amplify the voices of these frontline heroes, ensuring they are heard by key policymakers and decision-makers, disrupting the status quo, and reducing overreliance on historic funding pathways.
There are many opportunities for knowledge sharing across the sector, perhaps through regular forums, networks, or publishing and sharing content online. We look forward to continuing to build and drive change through our work with the Anchor Programme.
*An infrastructure organisation refers to an organisation that provides high quality support services to wider networks of frontline voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations in London, helping them deliver their work more effectively.
