About Us
Camden Giving is an independent charity working to end local poverty and inequality in Camden.
We were set-up in 2017 as a participatory funder because we believe that the people who are surviving inequality are the people who can, and should, fund the solutions to the challenges facing communities in Camden.
Why Camden
Camden is a special place, full of activism, creativity and pride, but not everyone's experience of Camden is equal:
Men in the poorest wards in Camden die on average 7 years before men in the wealthiest wards
Almost one in three children live in poverty
Black Londoners are twice as likely to regularly go without basics compared to White Londoners
How We Do It
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We prioritise shifting power to a varied range of voices, over counting the number of residents making funding decisions. Why? Because people who are surviving local inequalities are the ones we should look to for our solutions.
Everyone involved in Camden Giving’s community led decisions bring new perspective and ideas. They have something to say that might not otherwise be heard, no one is ever involved to “tick a box”. We’re shifting power to people, supplementing their knowledge and opening up new networks.
You can expect us to train and pay 50 new community panellists a year, change our work to suit their needs and demonstrate how this makes our funding decisions different to other funders.
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We prioritise having accessible funding processes over counting the number of projects. Why? Because we work on the notion that everyone can play a part in overcoming inequality.
We have processes and people which mean that experience, connections, skills, background and confidence are not barriers to receiving funding.
We’re working to increase funding to community leaders who have experience of inequality and we’re spending more time with people who need our help to access funding. We want to share at least a £1 million a year in this way.
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We’re breaking down divides between people who live and work in Camden to create greater outcomes.
We work with businesses and charities as equal partners and want parties to gain something be that skills, well-being or connections.
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We recognise that racial injustice and inequality has a big impact on the people of Camden. We have insured our processes are informed by the experiences of our staff, supporters and grantees in order to promote equitable racially just community.
Our Theory of Change
“Camden Council have delegated funding through Camden Giving across a number of grant programmes because we know that we can reach communities who are underfunded more effectively.
We also know that, beyond participatory grant-making, our involvement with Camden Giving is influencing global businesses to shift their approaches to community consultation projects, putting Camden residents at the heart of decision-making about changes that affect them directly, empowering them to elevate their voice and access roles they otherwise might not access. ”