This article first appeared in the October 2025 edition of Civil Society Fundraising Magazine.
The Charity Service (TCS) is a charity based in Manchester which sponsors Donor Advised Funds which make grants to organisations within the UK and overseas. We also have our own Greater Manchester Grants programme providing small grants within Greater Manchester.
Our mission is to promote philanthropy and to enable charities to achieve more by increasing the flow of funding. We have recently launched a new participatory grants programme in partnership with the Booth Centre, a Manchester-based homelessness charity specialising in co-creation. Here we will share our journey to launching the programme and the lessons we have learned along the way.
What is Participatory Grantmaking?
Participatory grantmaking is a form of philanthropy that aims to redress the power imbalance typically found between funder and recipient by devolving decision-making responsibility to those with lived experience of the problem the funding is attempting to solve.
We became aware of participatory grantmaking in late 2023 and after some initial research and consultation we decided that this was something that we would like to explore further. There was some evidence of similar programmes involving the community in decision making within the North West but there didn’t appear to be a ‘true’ participatory grantmaking programme within Greater Manchester. We felt that we were in a strong position to run a programme which we hoped would demonstrate the benefits of this type of grant-making and encourage other funders to adopt a similar approach.
Challenges and solutions
To proceed further there were a number of challenges that we would have to overcome including agreement from our Board of Trustees, securing funding, resource and, probably most importantly recruiting a group of people with lived experience of the topic that we wanted to fund.
Our first challenge was obtaining agreement from our Board of Trustees. Trustees are responsible for setting the charity’s strategy, compliance and ensuring that funds are distributed transparently. Participatory grant-making shifts the power to make funding decisions away from our trustees but ultimate responsibility for those decisions still lies with our board which meant that they were naturally cautious and needed to understand the risks as well as potential benefits to this approach.
In February 2024 a paper was taken to the Board of Trustees for discussion. After significant discussion, during which not everyone agreed, it was decided that a working paper outlining how the programme could be delivered should be presented at the next Board meeting. Fortunately we had been able to identify a small amount of monies from an old trust fund that could be used to fund a small pilot programme and The Trustees agreed to this if we were to proceed. They also agreed that if we were to go ahead then any programme would focus on supporting one of our existing priorities – Preventing homelessness.
This was our next challenge! It was clear that we did not have the expertise or resource within the staff team to recruit and support a group of homeless people whilst delivering a grantmaking programme. The only answer to this was to engage and work with a partner organisation.
Due to our local presence, our networks and delivery of our own Greater Manchester grant programme we were able to identify a possible partner, the Booth Centre, very quickly. We have supported their work through our own grants programme and are aware of the centre’s long history of working collaboratively and in partnership with those who use their centre. An approach was made to Kate McSweeney, Deputy CEO, to discuss their possible involvement in which they readily agreed to. In August 2024 a working paper outlining the responsibilities, delivery plan and finance was presented to the Board of Trustees which was agreed unanimously.
Preparation
In September 2024 we had our first meeting with staff at the Booth Centre to discuss the programme, our proposed delivery plans and the recruitment of people with lived experience to make up the Grant Committee. A Memorandum of Understanding was agreed splitting responsibilities across both organisations.
- Both organisations would be responsible for advertising/raising awareness of the Participatory Grantfunding programme using their websites, online and networks.
- TCS would provide ongoing training and support for Booth Centre staff and Grant Committee, screen all funding enquiries, issue application forms, complete due diligence on organisations, prepare applications for the Grant Committee, feedback funding decision to organisations and provide ongoing monitoring.
- The Booth Centre would host delivery of the programme, staff would be responsible for the recruitment and ongoing support of the Grant Committee, support training activity, evaluate the programme and prepare an interim and final report.
In November 2024 the TCS Grants Coordinator met with 5 people who were to make up the Grant Committee to explain who we were, what participatory grantmaking is, their proposed role(s) within the programme, training and the level of commitment we would be asking for. There was a general feeling of disbelief that they were being asked to make decisions on funding applications but they all agreed it was a great idea and they wanted to be part of something innovative and different.
In February 2025 we commenced with a series of training events covering some basic things we felt they needed to know, i.e. the charity sector within the UK/Greater Manchester, application process, due diligence, conflict of interest, etc. The next step was for them to review a number of redacted applications we had received for our Greater Manchester grants programme so they got used to reading and assessing applications. This resulted in them devising a scoring system that they could use going forward. We were nearly ready to launch the programme but there was one last thing to do – discuss and agree any priority areas that they would like to support.
Launch
We launched Round 1 of the programme in April 2025 and closed for applications in May 2025. On Friday 13th June the Grant Committee met to review, discuss (in depth) and make decisions on the applications we had received. It was a long day, with a short break for lunch, but the Grant Committee thoroughly enjoyed the experience of taking on the responsibility for making funding decisions.
The benefits of participatory grantmaking were clear as their discussions were driven by their lived experience and knowledge. They have developed as a team, become more confident in voicing their opinions and in decision making. The unforeseen benefit was how organisations greatly appreciated that their application had been reviewed by people with lived experience irrespective on the result of their application.
On Friday 4th July we held a Celebration Event at the Booth Centre which the successful applicants attended and met some of the Grant Committee and TCS Trustees. Follow up/monitoring meetings have been arranged so Grant Committee members can see the impact of their decisions.
Key lessons and the future
Having had a successful first round we can now see the benefits of the programme in practice. We have seen the impact on grant committee members who have spoken candidly about the confidence and skills they have gained by being part of the grant-making process. We have also seen the benefits of the funding for the successful applicants: not only have their received much needed funding for projects but they also understand the grant-making process with one recipient organisation commenting
“It really feels extra special to have been selected by a panel with lived experience of homelessness and we are truly honoured to receive this grant.”
We feel the programme has been successful due to several factors including the preparation and research undertaken at the beginning, the role of a skilled and experienced partner organisation in recruiting and supporting the committee members and the clear structure of the programme which used TCS’s grant-making experience to allow committee members to focus on decision-making.
We will be reviewing the last few months, and making any suggested or necessary changes proposed by the Grant Committee before going live with Round 2 in September this year. From 2026 we will be looking to share our experiences and to potentially find another funder to join us in funding future rounds.
