Our role in the Inclusive Communities Fund was to empower communities to propose and implement solutions to real issues in their areas allowing local people to drive positive change. The fund was administered by Heart of England Community Foundation, who we worked alongside to engage and support community organisations.
We engaged with over 1,500 people across the region at both in person events and online webinars providing:
- Information sessions about the Fund
- Deep dive sessions on the application
- Feedback and learnings sessions to unsuccessful applicants
This included:
- Nearly 50 one-to-one surgeries with applicants, primarily answering specific questions and queries pre-application as well as feedback on unsuccessful bids to support with future bids and grant applications.
- 10 webinars with 388 attendees
Recordings of webinars were mase available online and downloaded over 1,500 times, and we also provided accessible and editable versions of the application forms on our website. This provided an extra layer of support to applicants.
We worked with minority groups including:
- Black Women in Business (William Wilson Turner Foundation organised, who were ultimately successful* photo attached)
- LGBT centre,
- First time applicants including recipients of micro grants from Birmingham City Council Creative Cities Grants, a legacy programme from the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
23 of our United By Family organisations were successful in their ICF Applications, and we positively engaged with 24% of the successful applicants over the four month period where the fund was open.
We continue to offer support, skills, and capacity building primarily to small and medium ‘grassroots’ organisations across the West Midlands. If you’re interested in finding out more about becoming part of our United By Family, check our or website or get in touch.
