Residents and community members connect at a Camden Giving event. Photo: Camden Giving.
Camden Giving is an independent charity working to end local poverty and inequality in Camden. Founded in 2017, it is one of the most consistently cited examples of participatory grantmaking in the UK, and one of the few organisations to have practised it from inception rather than adopting it as a later reform.
Over eight years, Camden Giving has awarded over £6 million working with 200 people with lived experience of the issues it addresses. Every grant decision is made by a panel of local residents, not by staff or trustees.
What makes Camden Giving particularly instructive is how comprehensively participatory values run through each stage of its work. Community panels co-design all aspects of the funding programmes, from the themes to what questions are asked in the application form. Application processes are designed for accessibility rather than compliance, with one-to-one advice calls offered to applicants and feedback given to every unsuccessful organisation, something Camden Giving’s former Head of Funding, Khadra Aden, described as unusual, but essential to genuine inclusion.
The results of community-led decision-making are striking. At Camden Giving, 70 to 80 per cent of projects funded are led by racialised groups, because participatory grantmaking decisions are made by people who have experienced marginalisation and are therefore more likely to recognise the strength of Black and Brown community leaders.
The benefits extend beyond grant recipients. Around 15 per cent of panellists have directly gained employment through their involvement in participatory grantmaking, through increased confidence, skills, and networks. One in ten people involved in participatory grantmaking in Camden go on to initiate some form of social action in their community.
Camden Giving has also become a sector resource, providing paid consultancy and advice to 16 grantmaking organisations and businesses globally, including the National Lottery Community Fund, BBC Children in Need, and the United Nations.
What practitioners can take from this
Camden Giving demonstrates that participatory grantmaking is not a bolt-on or a pilot. When it is built into an organisation’s structure from the start, and applied consistently across every stage of the process, it fundamentally changes who gets funded, who holds power, and what becomes possible.