New Generation Initiative (2000)

(Closed to new applicants)

In April 2000 the Foundation's Trustees agreed to invest £2.4m in a large grants programme, representing a new form of grant making for the Foundation. This programme was named the New Generation Initiative (NGI).

The NGI was a unique grant programme/strategy, which responded to the funding needs of charities. Needs were identified through the Foundation's experience of making approximately 300, mostly one-off grants each year, of up to £10,000. Charities often stated that completing lengthy applications forms for funders was time consuming and took them away from vital service delivery. They also cited the importance of and the need for long-term, core funding, without arduous monitoring processes e.g. quarterly monitoring reports to be completed, which some funders requested. Previous grant programmes operated by the Foundation had also revealed much duplication of effort amongst charities working in the same fields and not much sharing of information, resource or experience, in delivering similar services and projects.

In order to aim to address these issues, the Trustees set the following objectives for the NGI that would enable the Foundation to:

fund more strategically e.g. thematic funding to achieve a greater impact in one area
provide long-term funding for core, development and policy work
provide flexible funding- so charities could spend according to their priorities and could plan/deliver their services more effectively
implement 'light-touch' monitoring- relieving the burden on charities to complete rigorous monitoring/evaluation forms taking them away from service delivery
encourage partnership working between the charities funded
fund an independent evaluation of the work to obtain useful learning for the Foundation itself, the charities supported, other funders, policy makers and statutory providers.

In order to determine what causes the NGI should focus on, the Foundation undertook extensive research within government and the voluntary sector to identify social needs, gaps in funding and new issues emerging. Most of this research was undertaken through visiting and liaising with key professionals e.g. Home Office, Social Exclusion Unit, YMCA, Family Policy Studies Centre, British Association of Settlements and Social Action etc. After much informed consideration, the Trustees identified 'parenting' as the theme for the NGI, which at the time, was not high on the government's agenda and the repercussions of poor parenting were stretching far and wide. The Trustees recognised the importance of identifying areas less well funded by other funders and government, to maximise the benefits achievable with its grants and to raise the profile of less well funded issues. The programme became known as the New Generation Initiative based on its aim of improving outcomes for future generations.

Instead of inviting many unsolicited applications for funding involving typical lengthy and highly competitive bidding processes, the Foundation identified the charities it wished to support, through further research and from visiting approximately 35 charities identified as potentially suitable partners for support from the NGI. Those chosen were:

Action for Prisoners Families - aims to improve the quality of life of parents and children affected by imprisonment and to support organisations which provide assistance to the families of people in prison.
Home-Start - offers friendship and practical help to families under pressure which have a least one child under five years of age. They provide relief to children and parents in despair and distress and work to prevent the emotional and physical abuse of such children.
M6 Theatre Company - uses theatre as a positive, creative and active learning medium to assist young people's personal, educational and social development. They stage productions for young people covering a range of topics accompanied by workshops and educational resources.
Parentline Plus - offers practical support and information to anyone parenting a child, through a national free helpline, its website, parenting courses and a network of parenting groups.
The Straight Talking Project (now called Straight Talking) - trains teenage parents to raise young people's awareness of the problems associated with teenage parenthood, with the aim of reducing high rates of teenage pregnancy.

Once identified, the charities were collectively invited to a meeting with the Trustees to discuss their work, the objectives of the NGI, to meet one another, and start identifying potential partnership working opportunities to maximise the benefits of their work. The Trustees were very keen to include a collaborative aspect as a part of the NGI in order to add additional value and make the project more than the 'sum of its parts'. The charities had for the most part, not previously worked together before.

Formal bids were then agreed with each charity providing substantial long-term funding of between three and five years, for whatever work they required, to help them meet their beneficiaries' needs most effectively. Additional grants were later made in support of partnership projects which the charities developed amongst themselves.

An independent consultancy company, Shared Intelligence was appointed to monitor and evaluate the NGI. Their experience lies in economic development, regeneration and public policy and they believe that sharing knowledge helps bring success. Their summary findings were:

The NGI was a successful programme
The mix of policy and delivery work funded through the NGI was effective
The nature of the funding enabled the charities to strengthen their infrastructures which will enable many more to benefit in the future
The charities were able to plan strategically with the confidence of knowing they had the funding behind them. This enabled them to develop organically, expand their services practicably and manageably. It offered them security and the time to achieve their goals.

Benefits from partnership working were:

The forming of new relationships enabling the charities to support and learn from one another e.g. learn about one another's services, tips for improving and developing their own services, learn what other support was available which they could refer their own beneficiaries on to, if appropriate
Sharing good practice
Signposting to one another's services
Lobbying government together e.g. a joint response was made on the Green Paper, Every Child Matters
encouragement of best practice and personal development for the individuals involved
M6 Theatre Company produced plays for two of the other charities which helped raise awareness of the issues associated with their work.

Overall, it was found that the NGI benefited thousands of families, parents and young people and it is expected that the benefits of the NGI will continue to make a difference to the charities and their beneficiaries beyond the lifetime of the project.

The results of Shared Intelligence's findings on the NGI have been innovatively presented in the form of a Virtual Town, which later received an International Visual Communication Award. It demonstrates how the lives of parents, children and families would have benefited if it had been possible for the work of the NGI to have taken place in one geographic area. The Virtual Town was shared with other funders at an event at the House of Commons in December 2005, attended by other charities, funders, MPs and policy makers. It is available on the Foundation's website as an interactive CD Rom and a written report. View the Virtual Town evaluation as a PDF

The Foundation was delighted that the NGI was recognised for its excellence at the Charity Awards in 2006 and we have since continued to use the learning from it to shape our future grant programmes, in particular, the Investor Programmes.