Join The Coalition of Funders

INVITATION TO INVEST IN THE REGENERATIVE FUTURES FUND

(PDF of this invitation can be downloaded here)

The pioneering Regenerative Futures Fund aims to invest up to £15 million in 10 to 15 charitable organisations over 10 years to empower community-led, transformational, systemic change by tackling the root causes of the interconnected challenges of poverty, racism, and impact of the climate crisis on communities in Edinburgh.

THE CHALLENGE

Edinburgh - Scotland’s most affluent city - faces systemic issues of poverty and racism, deeply intertwined with the climate crisis. The City has ambitious goals to End Poverty and Be A Net Zero, Climate Ready City by 2030. We cannot tackle poverty without considering the interconnected issues of racial inequality and climate crisis.

People experiencing poverty and racism lack resources and power to drive meaningful change in communities. The pandemic illustrated how integral charities and grassroots organisations are to society. Visionary people with experience of societal issues, many with ideas for change, exist in our communities across Edinburgh. Because of the trust that exists between those individuals and charities or grassroots organisations, they are well placed to support genuine community-led change tackling complex, interconnected, societal issues.

However, existing funding models are typically short-term or project-focused resulting in ‘sticking plaster’ and siloed solutions. Charities and grassroots organisations - those best placed to create real and lasting change - are unable to grow the scale of operation, achieve financial sustainability and address the root causes of issues. Funders lack opportunities to collaborate in a coordinated effort with communities and grassroots organisations and rarely work across systems and sectors. Transformative thinking - and doing - requires long term resource. The scale of the challenges faced requires a different approach and deep, lasting, cross-sector collaboration.

THE SOLUTION

The Regenerative Futures Fund is a pioneering cross-sector collaboration - a ten-year, spend down, pooled fund designed to empower community-led, transformational, systemic change by tackling the root causes of the interconnected challenges of poverty, racism, and impact of the climate crisis on communities in Edinburgh:

  • Co-designed with people with lived experience of poverty, racism and the impact of the climate crisis.

  • Places and supports people experiencing poverty and racism in leadership, accountability and decision-making roles.

  • Funds charitable organisations addressing the root causes of poverty, racism and climate change.

  • Provides unrestricted grants of up to £100,000 a year to 10-15 charitable organisations over 10 years.

  • Builds a resilient network of charitable organisations delivering transformational, systemic change.

WHY A POOLED FUND?

The UK funding landscape is shifting: many funders are acutely aware the problems they seek to address are too vast and complex to be solved alone. A key benefit of a pooled fund is the opportunity to leverage investment. Other benefits pooled funds create for investors identified in research by Joseph Rowntree Foundation include:

  • achieve strategic impact

  • de-risk by funding collaboratively

  • work in a way that is flexible

  • share learning and build expertise

  • field build and expand the pipeline.

WHO IS HOSTING THE FUND?

Foundation Scotland, Scotland’s only Community Foundation, is hosting the strategically aligned Regenerative Futures Fund. Over almost 30 years, the Foundation has managed more than £200 million in grant making to charities and community groups across Scotland, creating happier, fairer, and more sustainable communities.

The Foundation brings extensive expertise and experience of working with and for communities and funders and of monitoring, evaluating and reporting on outcomes and impact; provides Communications, Development and Finance support; and offers matched funding, all of which the Regenerative Futures Fund will benefit from.

WHAT WILL SUCCESS LOOK LIKE?

This innovative fund has a robust, transparent and accountable funding model, a detailed theory of change and a comprehensive monitoring, evaluation and learning framework to ensure responsible stewardship of investment, regular reporting on impact and sharing of learning. Its overarching outcomes are aligned with UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to achieve a more inclusive, equitable and sustainable future for people and planet:

  • Edinburgh residents see improvements to homes, financial security, prospects, and the natural world – SDG 1 (No Poverty), SDG 3 (Good Health & Wellbeing), SDG 8 (Decent Work & Economic Growth), SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities), SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities & Communities) and SDG 13 (Climate Action).

  • Residents living in poverty in Edinburgh are empowered to play a central role in improving the lives of people living in poverty – SDG 10 (No Poverty).

  • Grassroots organisations have the resources and networks to develop a powerful voice in Edinburgh, and the space to imagine a better future and begin to shape it – SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities & Communities).

REGENERATIVE FUTURES FUND INVESTMENT

The Regenerative Futures Fund programme budget is £15.8 million. We have secured investment of £8.5 million from The City of Edinburgh Council, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, Foundation Scotland (who also host the Regenerative Futures Fund), The National Lottery Community Fund, The Robertson Trust, Turn2us Edinburgh Trust, William Grant Foundation and philanthropists. We seek to secure further investment of £7.3 million. To learn what our existing funders say about collaborating on the Regenerative Futures Fund, please read here.

INVITATION TO INVEST IN THE REGENERATIVE FUTURES FUND

We invite you to join this collaboration of visionary investors committed to a just and sustainable Edinburgh.

CONTACT

Leah Black, Co-Head of Regenerative Futures Fund, Foundation Scotland

leah@foundationscotland.org.uk

What The Funders Collaborating On The Pooled Fund Say

  • Here in Edinburgh we have an ambitious target to end poverty by 2030, and we remain committed to making our city fairer. We know that this isn’t an easy task but we need to be bold and drive the change that is so greatly needed. The Regenerative Futures Fund will empower local people and the third sector to directly fight poverty and inequality in our communities. We need a city-wide partnership fund to help us end poverty together. This innovative model is unique to Edinburgh. With backing already in place for £6 million, including £100,000 of Council funding, the team is well placed to start working alongside those with firsthand understandings of poverty. This will help make a lasting difference - ensuring their voices are at the heart of decision-making.

    Jane Meagher, Leader of City of Edinburgh Council

  • The Regenerative Futures Fund is an ambitious vision to reimagine and demonstrate an alternative model of citizen-led change for the City of Edinburgh. Communities have no shortage of ideas for how to explore and create innovative solutions and address the inequalities that exclude people from being part of that experience; what they often lack is stable and secure resourcing and the right to decide how best to use it. We are grateful and excited to have the opportunity to learn alongside communities, other funders, City of Edinburgh Council, other partners and stakeholders how we might work together differently in future towards sustainable change that can meet everyone’s social and economic needs and safeguard our climate and natural world."

    Gillian Goode, Funding Manager at Esmée Fairbairn Foundation

  • This fund, designed for and by local people, is unique response to a well-evidenced need for change within Edinburgh’s communities. National Lottery players can be very proud that they are helping to support this vital work which will make a real difference to so many

    Kate Still, The National Lottery Community Fund Scotland Chair

  • The Robertson Trust is committed to preventing and reducing poverty and trauma in Scotland by funding, supporting and influencing solutions to drive social change. As an independent funder, we recognise our responsibility to explore new approaches, particularly to address the root causes of poverty, racial injustice and climate risks. Our partners tell us consistently that lasting change cannot be achieved through short-term funding. That’s why we were drawn to the Regenerative Futures Fund’s long-term vision, its ambitious cross-sector collaboration, and its deep commitment to shifting power towards people and places with lived experience of these deep-seated challenges. Our £1 million award over ten years - the largest and longest commitment of strategy period to date - reflects our commitment to long-term change. We share the Fund’s bold vision and look forward to learning about power-sharing and ambitious collaboration to achieve transformative change in Edinburgh.

    Jim McCormick, Chief Executive, The Robertson Trust

  • Too often, grassroots organisations are trapped in short-term funding cycles that create uncertainty, stifle ambition, and force them to firefight the symptoms of poverty rather than addressing its root causes. This broken system keeps communities in survival mode, preventing them from shaping the futures they deserve. At Turn2us, we know that real, lasting change happens when power and resources are placed directly in the hands of those experiencing financial insecurity. That’s why we were the first to commit £1 million to the Regenerative Futures Fund, which offers sustainable support and directly contributes to the Edinburgh-wide commitment. By strengthening local organisations, we’re not just supporting individual communities, we’re helping to sustain the wider ecosystem of support that means people can move out of financial hardship.

    Patrycja Kupiec, Head of Edinburgh Trust, Turn2us

  • This is an ambitious fund that ultimately aims to empower people to play a central role in improving their lives and those of others – to have their voices listened to and be active in shaping their own futures. We talk about this kind of approach often, but rarely do we see it so powerfully laid out. The Regenerative Futures Fund has the potential to create a compelling model for others to follow. We will fully support them to make that ambition a reality

    Helen Wray, Head of Philanthropy at Foundation Scotland

During the ten-year programme (2025 - 2035)

Funders contributing towards the pooled fund will be part of the Oversight & Enabling Board as well as optional participation in Monitoring & Evaluation and Learning Spaces where they will work together with organisations and the decision-making panel to refine how we will know this programme is making a difference, as well as taking learning from this back into their organisations. This forms part of our Governance Eco-System.

We know from the work we have done with funders since 2022 that there is a desire to continue to learn and design together and an acknowledgment that in order to make change that will last over the long-term, everyone involved will need to commit to change.

Find out more about the Governance Eco-System here.

How we collaborate with funders

What do we mean by funders?

By ‘funders’ we mean anyone who financially resources the community sector - e.g. philanthropic foundations, lottery distributers, individual philanthropists, local authorities, national government or private sector foundations.

During the development phase (2022 - 2024)

A group of funders and local and national government came together in 2022 to form the Funders Community of Practice. Some contributed to the cost of the development phase and all took part to learn. The group met regularly looking at areas such a fund design, theory of change, outcomes, progressing proposals, and more.

The Funders Community of Practice is now focused on funders who are progressing proposals towards the pooled fund, coming together to share experiences and to talk about and plan for collaboration.

Read more about the Funders Community of Practice here and in the Learning Report on the co-design of the fund.