1. A funder’s interest in collaborative working
Lillie Swift – Funding Manager
Introductions
Who are the Development team?

2. What we’re hoping to fund…
“shared goals and values between different organisations and an understanding of the bigger picture” “inspiring joint action that goes beyond what any single organisation can achieve alone through supporting ideas that address long term issues in a place or on a theme, helping people and organisations to work together and use their networks and strengths in new ways.” “thematic and/or place-based partnerships. Focussing on overall systems, not just on individual projects or organisations.” “Organisations and communities with an aspiration to work together on big challenges.”

3. Generous Leadership
Having a shared sense of community, “Speaking up for the Sector”
Supporting “communities to define their own aspirations”
Rooted in place, part of an eco-system, part of a wider movement
Introductions
Who are the Development team?

4. Questions & Answers

5. What makes a strong partnership project
Lillie Swift – Funding Manager
Introductions
Who are the Development team?

6. Today’s session…. Introductions Setting the context
Big Lottery Fund Partnerships – an overview
Partnership delivery models
Case studies
Questions to consider
What’s new for Big Lottery Fund
Q&A

7. Setting the context Not here to tell you what to do!
Some ideas to consider when thinking about working together
Important not to come together for funding
What meaningful collaboration looks like depends on local context – and for the community to determine

8. Partnerships – an overview
Funding for organisations who share responsibility and influence with others, have a shared set of goals and values and achieve their mission by starting with the bigger picture rather than just what their organisation can do on its own.
Partnerships can be existing or new which build on different skills and strengths. Our funding can support many different types of partnership, including:
cross-sector partnerships
local place-based collaboration
local and national organisations working together around a particular theme.
We can fund a mix of project activities, operating and capital costs and partnership and organisational development costs.
Grants are over £10,000 and up to 5 years.
Introductions
We use money raised by National Lottery players to help communities achieve their ambitions. Communities come in all shapes and sizes, and National Lottery funding is there for everyone.
We make grants over £10,000 for up to five years through our Partnerships funding for organisations who share responsibility and influence with others, who have a shared set of goals and values, and achieve their mission by starting with the bigger picture rather than just what their organisation can do on its own. We
call this generous leadership.
What we fund
Partnerships funding is specifically designed to support generous leadership and increased collaborative
working, which starts with shared goals and values between different organisations and an understanding
of the bigger picture.
By sharing their contribution, knowledge and skills, people and organisations can develop and grow
existing partnerships and encourage new types of partnership to emerge which build on their different
skills and strengths.
The funding can support many different compositions of partners. That might include cross-sector partnerships, local place-based collaborations or local and national organisations working together around a particular theme.
We will fund ideas that are in line with our funding priorities that strengthen relationships, improve the places and spaces that matter to people, and act earlier to enable people to fulfil their potential.
We can fund a mix of project activities, operating and capital costs and partnership and organisational development costs.

9. What we’re hoping to fund…
“shared goals and values between different organisations and an understanding of the bigger picture” “inspiring joint action that goes beyond what any single organisation can achieve alone through supporting ideas that address long term issues in a place or on a theme, helping people and organisations to work together and use their networks and strengths in new ways.” “thematic and/or place-based partnerships. Focussing on overall systems, not just on individual projects or organisations.” “Organisations and communities with an aspiration to work together on big challenges.”

10. Generous leadership Generous leadership What does good look like?
• A willingness to share responsibility and influence to achieve the common good and create alliances with individuals, groups and communities who can achieve shared objectives together.
• Partnerships that bring together smaller organisations that are rooted in
communities with the reach and size of larger organisations, to create a shared set of goals rather than focus on individual’s priorities
• Effective funding, data and systems for sharing information, giving people capacity and
information to find common goals and discover organisations who could partner with them.
Generous leadership
We expect you to consider how your partnership can demonstrate generous leadership.
What do we mean by generous leadership?
• A willingness to share responsibility and influence to achieve the common good, coupled with
a drive to build strong alliances with individuals, groups and communities who can achieve
shared objectives together.
• Leaders who are aware of their place in the wider ecosystem and how sharing their contribution,
knowledge and skills can complement those of others for the good of civil society.
• Partnerships that are driven by a shared set of goals and values, and start with the wider
ecosystem rather than each partner’s individual priorities.
What does good look like?
• Leaders who develop and foster relationships, are concerned about nurturing shared values
and how different roles and skills can complement each other for the common good.
• Partnerships that bring together smaller organisations to produce ideas that are rooted in the
experience of communities, with the reach and size of larger organisations, creating a shared
ecosystem needed to deliver change at scale.
• Effective funding, data and systems for sharing information, giving people capacity and
information to find the common good and discover organisations who could partner with them.

11. Our funding priorities
Stronger relationships
We support ideas that bring people together, strengthening relationships in and across communities
Shared and sustainable places and spaces
We support people to shape and sustain the places that matter to them, like a park, community centre or online network
Early action to prevent problems and tackle disadvantage
We support activity that empowers people to fulfil their potential, working to address problems at the earliest possible stage
bring people together and build strong relationships in and across communities
We’re particularly interested in activities that enable people to spend time together doing
things they enjoy and benefit from, learning from each other and building networks which
help make life better for everyone.
• improve the places and spaces that matter to communities
Communities are able to thrive when they have places and spaces to meet, which belong
to the community and are open to all. This can be a community centre, a green space or an
online network. We’re particularly interested in ideas that help to create sustainable places,
both environmentally and financially.
• enable more people to fulfil their potential by working to address issues at the
earliest possible stage
We want to hear about ideas that provide people with the confidence and skills to achieve
their ambitions. In particular, we want to support ideas that aim to take early action, and help
to ensure people are ready for everything.

12. What we look for in organisations
People Led
Meaningfully involving the people you’re working with in the development and delivery of your activity.
Strengths based
Making the most of the skills that already exist in communities.
Connected
Understanding what other relevant organisations are doing and developing good working relationships.
What we look for in organisations we support People –led We’re looking for meaningful involvement of the people you’re working with in the development, design and delivery of your activity. We want to hear how the community you are working with has influenced your project and will continue to shape its delivery. Strengths Based We want to hear how you will be making the most of, and building on, the skills and experiences of people and what already exists within communities. Connected We want to ensure you have a good understanding of what others are doing, developing good working relationships. So tell us: - How you have connected with other relevant organisations and how your idea complements what they are doing - How you have used these relationships to develop your idea.

13. Partnership models
Partnerships led by one lead partner –one award to a grant-holder known as the lead organisation and they enter into a partnership agreement with other organisations that agree to deliver a part of the project.
Organisations working towards an aligned strategy –separate grants to individual organisations that are working towards an aligned strategy and all organisations enter into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to enable all organisations to understand and agree how they will work together to deliver the project.
Non formal collaboration – signposting, referrals, sharing resources & spaces
Power Dynamics -prime contractor model
Partnerships with a small P are really great too – does not need to be formal partnership

14. CASE STUDY ONE – South Gloucestershire Youth Partnership
6 youth organisations in South Gloucestershire
Cuts in youth sector, all applying separately for funding
Decided to apply as a partnership to deliver activity across 6 youth clubs
Deliver access activities and specialist services including support with mental health, LGBTQ, drug and alcohol, employment
Applying for £492,000 of total project £933,408 with match funding contribution from the partners
No lead partner each want to have separate grant but tied into a legally binding MOU agreement
Project includes Youth Partnership Manager that works across the partnership

15. Discussion With the people sitting next to you please discuss:
What is the added value of working together?
What makes the partnership strong?
What are the opportunities and challenges for the partnership?

16. Equal power dynamic between the partners
Improved referral pathways into specialist services
Sharing of resources including volunteer and accreditation opportunities
Joint monitoring and evaluation –
Creating a standardised outcomes framework across all youth provision in South Gloucestershire
External evaluation to inform their practice and the benefits of integrated approach that can be shared more widely
Stronger voice and influence for the youth sector
A more sustainable model of practice that improves outcomes for young people; and can be used as an example of how to manage funding cuts and resource shortage whilst increasing the quality of youth provision.
Includes a joint Youth Participation Group with young people from each club to shape the delivery and direction of local youth services across the region
Partnership Manager – leadership and co-ordination, developing referral pathways, advocating for the sector and monitoring & evaluation

17. CASE STUDY TWO–- Refugee Early Action Partnership
Large National Refugee Charity leading the partnership – prime contractor model
Working with 8 local refugee organisations across England who are embedded in their local communities
The organisations primarily address symptoms (poverty, homelessness) and are unable to cope with the rising demand for their services.
They lack the capacity to take a more preventative approach or a forum to share learning with other front-line organisations
Large National Refugee Charity will support them to analyse service-user journeys and pressure points that create crisis and use this to create an ‘Early Action Charter’ a framework of preventative principles that organisations can endorse
Lead partner will create practitioner network of over 50 refugee organisations who can share learning and use the framework
What are the benefits of this?

18. Discussion With the people sitting next to you please discuss:
What is the added value of working together?
What makes the partnership strong?
What are the opportunities and challenges for the partnership?

19. Gives capacity for smaller organisations analyse their services and think more strategically, focus less on problems and be forward thinking about how their services evolve
Wider partners not directly involved can benefit from the evidence, improving practice across the whole sector
Builds collective solutions to approaches to have the ability to influence wider changes for the asylum system
Lead partner is a ‘generous leader’ and takes a facilitative approach and can share experiences across the partnership
Partners benefit from robust monitoring and evaluation systems and can use local data to contribute to a sector wide evidence base
What are the benefits of this?
For individuals seeking asylum - people seeking asylum will receive help early in their asylum journey and at the point that they reach crisis. They will better understand how the asylum process operates, which will empower them to engage and present their claim for asylum and statutory support that they are entitled to in a more proactive and assertive manner, and to make choices that enable them to avoid destitution. The impact for people seeking asylum should be sustained and grow as a result of changes within the asylum and refugee support sector.
For core partner organisations - 8 core partners will spend time analysing their contexts and creating a deep understanding of their service user journeys and key pressure points that create crisis; through research, data and working closely with beneficiaries. They will design and deliver services that prevent and de-escalate crises; as well as put in place monitoring and evaluation frameworks to create a rigorous evidence base of impact, contrasting outcomes with those from more crisis driven services. Organisations would be delivering different, more preventative services by the end of year 1, reducing pressure on overstretched crisis services and enabling them to better sustain these much needed interventions. Physical and digital platforms would facilitate partners to share experience and learn from one another.
For the wider asylum and refugee support sector – a further 50 organisations will endorse the early action charter, implement the principles within their own practice and participate in the practitioner network. The knowledge and learning that the core partners generate and share will enable this both by building a more compelling evidence base for more preventative approaches, and practical insight into what is required and how to embed early action approaches for frontline organisations. This element of the proposal is relatively untested. Each of the core partners are also likely to influence the local landscape of provision by delivering their own services differently, especially given that they are well respected and well networked. There is also an opportunity for us to maximise the impact of this work through grant management; of other grants to the partners and potentially more broadly across our portfolio of funding for asylum seekers and refugees.
For the asylum system - the proposal seeks to build collective solutions that support early action approaches, developing evidence informed good practice across the sector to inform systems change such as local and national commissioning practice, funder interventions and bodies such as the Home Office.

20. Case Study 3 – Black Thrive
Initiative looks at issues leading to poorer outcomes in mental health for black community in Lambeth.
Lead by Healthwatch Lambeth in partnership with Social Finance and Public Health
Based on ‘collective impact’ approach model from USA to create system change
Working groups looking at different issues in the system and come up with improvements including ‘user experience’ ‘access to services’ Groups are made up of community members and frontline staff from statutory agencies.
Steering Committee leads partnership with leaders from SLAM, CCG, police, local councillors, and VCS
Analyst based in Public Health to collect data
Social Finance responsible for evaluation to show effectiveness of collective impact model

21. Discussion With the people sitting next to you please discuss:
What is the added value of working together?
What makes the partnership strong?
What are the opportunities and challenges for the partnership?

22. Strong buy in from voluntary and statutory sector
Partners from key agencies in Lambeth leading the project working together to tackle systemic issue
Strong buy in from voluntary and statutory sector
Ability to influence in the ‘system’ and improve services with solutions owned by the whole community
Funder partnership – contributions from Big Lottery Fund, Guys & St Thomas’ Charity, Lankelly Chase
Bringing in each of the partners expertise
Public Health able to analyse the data to prove change
Social Finance has national remit so can disseminate learning more widely
Healthwatch Lambeth has strong relationships locally to build trust

23. Questions to consider when exploring partnerships..
“What does your community want to do?”
“Who are your networks? How do you work with them?”
“Why you? Why them?” “How did you come together?”
“How does the money flow?” “What are the roles and responsibilities?”
“What are you hoping to change?” “What will be different in 3 years time?
“What can you achieve together more than you could do alone?
What’s the idea?
Who’s involved?
How?
Why You?
How will the money flow?
Is anyone leading?
What can you achieve together?
What’s next?
How were you all involved in setting a vision and your goals?
How were partners involved in developing working arrangements?
Do you jointly plan and deliver key aspects with others? Are decisions made jointly?
What does working together bring about? (E.g. more innovation)
How will learning and experience have a positive impact on other areas of your work?
What are your plans for when the funding has ended? Do you see yourselves working together again?

24. What’s new for us..
“Tell us your idea” –local contact involved in conversations earlier on
No application forms – in a format that suits you
No expectation to work in partnerships, just an appetite to understand when you are, why and what it could lead to
You pick the measures you track progress against
Understand time & resource needed to develop meaningful partnerships
Open to new and creative ways of working – appetite to try different models

25. Questions and Answers