Though I’m not usually one for new year’s resolutions (usually just try to do a little moe of what I enjoy and maybe a little less of what I don’t?) it’s not a bad idea to look back on what was a busy 2024 and look forward to 2025. So what did we learn (alongside our many fantastic partners) at Cripplegate Foundation and Islington Giving in 2024?
2024 was a year of challenges, achievements and opportunities for Cripplegate Foundation and Islington Giving. As we step into 2025, here’s a snapshot of what we’ve learned and some of our goals and plans for the coming year:
The challenges:
- First, the tough stuff: Funding and resources for voluntary and community sector organisations seems to be harder and harder to find, with organisations struggling to recruit and retain staff and volunteers.
- Local peoples’ needs are more complex and intense and ever increasing – piling pressure on frontline charities trying their hardest to address those needs…
“Funding and resources for voluntary and community sector organisations seems to be harder and harder to find, with organisations struggling to recruit and retain staff and volunteers.”
The wins:
- BUT… The local ‘Giving’ model is alive and well, and at Islington Giving we have been fortunate to raise more than ever from individual donors, businesses, trusts and foundations – and get that money out to the frontline almost as fast as it comes in.
- Sharing the impact of all those donations has really helped -through well attended events, colourful impact reports and engaging communications across social media.
“The local ‘Giving’ model is alive and well, and at Islington Giving we have been fortunate to raise more than ever from individual donors, businesses, trusts and foundations.”
- Resident-led decision making: Sharing power is critical for us and there have been so many ways to enable more of that. There are countless residents who want to get more involved and make real decisions in their local area – through programmes such as our Carers’ Panel (people with experience of being carers making decisions on funding for carers’ support organisations), Golden Grant Makers (older people making decisions on funding for activities they value themselves), and the Community Panel (our first-ever mixed-age and mixed-interest group), and with our ever-expanding Alumni Network, local people are broadening their involvement in community action.
“There are countless residents who want to get more involved and make real decisions in their local area… and great people who want to give their time as trustees.”
- And, there are so many great people who want to give their time as trustees – with fantastic skills and diverse perspectives! Though we had one fabulous trustee/governor retire from Cripplegate Foundation (we miss you Amir Rizwan), we were lucky enough to recruit and welcome three more (hello again, Fiona Au, Micky Khurana and Anna-Marie Tomm!)
The opportunities:
- Impact investing: Making the very best use of all of our assets (including our endowment) at Cripplegate Foundation has always been top of our list and working with our board on expanding impact investing – making sure our largest asset is doing social good alongside financial returns – has been inspiring.
“There is no way we would try to address challenges of poverty and inequality on our own – we would never change the system that way – so everything we do is in partnership.”
- And finally, partnerships are everything – there is no way we would try to address challenges of poverty and inequality on our own – we would never change the system that way – so everything we do is in partnership, including Islington Council (on the Islington Council Community Chest Programme for example), the BIG Alliance and all corporate partners involved, and of course all the Islington Giving coalition partners (including Cloudesley, City Bridge Foundation, The Morris Charitable Trust/Business Design Centre, Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Peabody Community Foundation, Macquarie, and other partners including Google, Arsenal, Mercers, Angel BID and so many more!)
Onwards (and upwards?!) for 2025!
Written by Sarah Benioff, Cripplegate Foundation and Islington Giving
