Community Knowledge

We’re creating mechanisms to collect and share community data that informs grantmaking and influences policy.

Informing grantmaking

We regularly share relevant data with our grantmaking panels that supplements the wealth of knowledge and experience from their own lived experiences. Our panels request public data to provide wider context around funding missions and understand the landscape of community projects in the borough. Key findings from our citizen-led research and grantee reporting are shared with grants panels.

    1. Citizen-led community research

      Our citizen researchers equitably gather data and insights from local communities to understand the root causes of issues faced by residents, making recommendations on funding priorities.

    2. Public data

      We provide our community panels with relevant public data that provides wider context around funding aims and missions. We are working with Plinth to build an open-source digital tool that makes public data accessible for our community panels and supports their decision making.

    3. Grantee reporting and feedback

      Insights from our participatory reporting are a key source of feedback from grantees. Grassroots leaders meet with the panellists that funded their work to share project updates, achievements and challenges, helping us understand the impact of our funding and where the gaps lie.

    1. Informed decision making

      The decisions made by our diverse community panels are guided by their lived experiences and provided with access to public data, research findings and trends and outcomes from grantee feedback. They have a deep understanding of the community’s needs and funding priorities.

    2. Tailored grant programmes

      Our grant programmes are influenced by our Alumni and are responsive to the needs identified by our grantees and panellists. Our panellists are awarding grants through a racial justice lens and our funding promotes the financial sustainability of global majority-led projects.

    3. Learnings shared with other funders

      By sharing our learnings and insights from Camden‘s communities we inform the grantmaking strategies of other funders, enabling them to meet the needs of Camden citizens. Our partners provide accessible opportunities and connections for our grantees to build their capacity and support their growth.

Influencing Policy

The best decisions for communities are made by communities. Our citizen-researchers are mobilising local residents to create meaningful change and put forward recommendations to local government, policy makers and businesses.

  • Camden Giving Alumni shape our key research objectives. Our citizen researchers equitably gather data and insights from local communities to understand the root causes of issues faced by residents and how Camden Giving, local businesses and government should respond.

  • Citizen researchers share their findings and recommendations with the wider community in Camden through community conversations, seeking confirmation and additional input so that that the research accurately reflects their experiences and desired outcomes.

  • We participate in public consultations and cabinet meetings to present findings and recommendations from our data and research to key government decision makers. We monitor the changes made in line with our recommendations.

Our latest knowledge