ABOUT THE GIVING LAB

OUR STORY

Starting out in 2018, we spent 18 months researching participatory, inclusive, and democratic funding models. We spoke to funders and community members alike to understand what barriers and opportunities exist to create a fund that centres lived experience and local knowledge, giving agency to those who’ve traditionally been the furthest away from the funding landscape.

And so, the Giving Lab was born - co-designed with 155 local Southwark residents and funded by Impact on Urban Health and Wellcome Trust. By believing in our community, we’ve been able to celebrate and support them to imagine, design, build, develop, deliver and sustain community-led ideas that address local issues that impact the health of West-Central-Southwark residents.

what MAKES THE GIVING LAB UNIQUE?

The funding landscape has been leaving too many people behind, for too long. The Giving Lab has developed an ecosystem where communities are able to harness opportunities traditionally inaccessible to them. Drawing on our deep and rich understanding of communities, using a structured and tailored wellbeing and training programme, and our approach to building meaningful and trusting partnerships with communities, we are able to support them in bringing their ideas to life.

OUR FOCUS

We believe that by enabling people to take control of their lives, they can also take greater control of their health. Evidence shows that employment, housing and money can have a big influence on people's health. Focussing on these three key aspects of people’s lives, projects funded through The Giving Lab set out to improve the physical and mental health of people in the local community - and particularly contribute to delaying the development of long-term health conditions such as diabetes, asthma, and high-blood pressure.

OUR APPROACH

Our participatory approach sees our partners, communities and individuals work together to develop new ideas based on existing research and their knowledge of local issues. By investing in long-term partnerships, ideas put forward by the community are not only funded, but the groups driving them are provided with a range of additional support to deliver effective, sustainable and meaningful change that further enables community agency, increases engagement and contributes to shifting power.