Doing & Learning Update - June, July, August 2025
Download the PDF of the Doing & Learning Report (June, July & August 2025) - here
What is Regenerative Futures Fund?
The Regenerative Futures Fund is a new ten-year £15m pooled fund for communities in Edinburgh that puts decision-making power into the hands of those who are most often excluded. This fund is designed by and for people in their own communities.
The funding will give grassroots organisations, collectives and movements the opportunity to think and plan for the long-term, tackling the root causes of poverty, racism and the environmental crisis. It supports approaches to improve the lives of people living in poverty and experiencing racism, and contribute towards a just green transition, by enabling equity, power-sharing and long-term change.
Doing & Learning Report #3 – Covering June, July & August 2025
What is the purpose of this update? We are committed to ‘working in the open’ as we develop the Regenerative Futures Fund. This is our second team update, sharing what we have been up to the past few months, what we've been learning, and a bit about how we move forward. These updates are shared with our Oversight & Enabling Board and on the Regenerative Futures Fund website. We – Aala Ross, Andy Hyde and Leah Black – have written this collaboratively, with future versions to be contributed to by the wider eco-system.
This update is structured around our seven project plans areas:
(note to readers that this report June – Aug 2025 - is more brief than usual in some sections as we are in the process of drafting and refining out first annual report for Year 0 to the end of September 2025 as well as producing some specific reports for our Oversight & Enabling Board)
Fund Design — Process, Programme & Participation
Fund Design — Process, Programme
We have been:
Fine-tuning the process of the Fund in real-time, responding to the realities the Fund is facing as it relates to third-sector challenges in Edinburgh. Beginning June 13, the residents panel met over several weeks to review the proposals submitted. Organisations were advised of the following process: submit a form, pause for two weeks to attend optional collaboration sessions and forge connections and collectives where fruitful, and then re-submit a form. The overwhelming majority did not re-submit the form, so we were left with proposals submitted in early May, and others submitted mid-June. We reviewed the most recent version of the proposal for projects that submitted twice. Some projects submitted proposals individually and in a collective, although advised not to. The residents chose, on the final deliberation date, between projects in this case of duplication.
The residents identified language (jargon, academic language, vagueness) to be a barrier to assessment and settled on asking “Can this be summarised in two sentences?” and “Is this sticking plaster or transformational change?” as guiding questions to steer decision making. They also struggled to define ownership of proposal (“Who asked for this project for and who wrote this?”), helping set early parameters for proposal guidelines and questions.
Decision making took twice as long as anticipated, and thereby contributing to the delayed announcement of the decision. At this time, projects who had applied for capacity-building and noted the difficulties of attending capacity-building sessions during the school holidays, so the capacity-building was delayed again, and also helped flag the need to delay the final decision making process to account for the winter break.
Once decisions were made, Aala held 33 virtual calls to offer feedback on proposals not selected. To those projects, in addition to all projects who applied, an offer to join a wider systems change network was made.
For those 34 selected projects, Foundation Scotland staff supported Regenerative Futures Fund in administering grant agreements and funds. We are so thankful!
While reviewing the 34 projects in the cohort, we observed that 17 of the projects had ticked the ‘BPOC-led’ box. Through calls with racial equity leaders and funders, including Robertson Trust (Zoe), we became aware of the DEI Data Standard and applied that to the 17 BPOC-led projects via solicitation of their data in accordance with the Standard. Through this, we became aware that 8 projects met the DEI Data Standard (having a mission statement dedicated to a racialised minority group, in addition to 50% of staff and 75% of trustees being from racialised background).
Capacity-building start date has been shortened due to delay in getting grant and partnership agreements. First sessions with the cohort began late August, and will be held weekly through to December 2025.
Through this we have been learning:
Several community-anchor organisations are disappointed in the decision made by residents and have therefore become critical of the Fund. We hope to facilitate a convening to allow space for mediation and a clarification of the decision that respects the residents panel.
When steps are added into a process, even an open and clear iterative process which values and considers input from involved parties, criticisms are made. Organisations in the charity sector are not just cash-strapped, but also short on staff time, which means they value a system that is clear and simple, and rigid. To add, Regenerative Futures Fund has struggled with staff shortages and is seeking to boost capacity to the cohort of organisations with freelance and facilitation support, as well as the additional support of the Learning Partner.
There is a huge level of interest in collaboration, especially among grassroots organisations. Community organisations have already started to shift partnerships in the capacity-building phase. Also, a lot of the organisations are keen to remain connected in a facilitated network, and we are planning to convene the network in October and November.
It's evident that quite a number of the projects are still unclear on what intersectionality, equity, and systems change mean from the Regenerative Futures Fund perspective. We hope that via dedicated trainings in the capacity-building phase, that all projects can be brought onboard.
The competitive nature of funding means that we have encountered charity workers and leaders who have not been leading with respect or kindness in their engagement with us, and have said quite damaging and harmful comments on feedback calls. With the wider network, and through expanding capacity-building pool, we are hoping to root future collaboration with the Fund in care, kindness and empathetic listening, and to find a route to bringing everyone along toward the collective vision. To this end, we are taking a ‘principles of working together' document to the cohort to sign onto.
Fund Design — Participation
We have been:
Bringing our residents group together to read and assess expressions of interest submitted by local organisations. The group met 8 times over 4 weeks, for a total of 29 hours, to read, assess and filter 97 proposals down to the 34 that will take part in the Capacity Building phase. This was a significant effort on their part (a collective total of 359 person hours) reflecting the detail and breadth of projects they had to consider, and the rigor needed to enable a fair decision-making process. When looking at proposals the residents group considered:
Responses to questions including:
How do you imagine your project evolving over the next decade?
How does your project fit within an intersectional framework?
Alignment of the proposal with the group’s collective experience of the root causes of poverty and racism.
Alignment of the proposal with the group’s collective vision for what will represent a more inclusive, caring and green city.
Use of resources to contribute to system change.
Representation of marginalised groups.
Geographical representation across the city.
Considering how the 34 proposals can be clustered in order that:
Related projects can more clearly explore links between each other.
Residents can focus on learning more deeply about specific subjects and sectors.
Residents will have fewer proposals to consider at the final funding stage in early 2026.
Facilitating writing reflection work among the residents, enabling them to ask each other about their experiences and replying through written responses.
Developing our plans for expert sessions, to be held during the capacity building phase. Residents will spend time online, learning from experts in different fields, relevant to the theme that they are focusing on.
Designing the process for community organisations to submit final proposals with residents, based on their recent experience of decision making. Residents spent a proposal symposium day with Aala, considering the language to be used in proposal questions, reflecting on an inclusive process and creating project themes.
Spending some social time together! The residents have been working since their first meeting in April – either learning about systems change, shaping the decision process or considering proposals. It was time to spend some down-time together, so we booked a canal boat and slowly meandered through the city for a morning. While the work we do together can foster strong bonds and build relationships, we need to find time to play, share food and discover our shared interests.
As suggested by residents, planning for a group Ceilidh, to spend some social time together but also to create space to share and celebrate the different cultures we represent.
Continuing outreach plans to recruit additional residents to the residents panel, in order to address gaps in representation. These identified gaps that we are addressing via concerted recruitment efforts are: youth under 25, aged over 60, South Asian, Southeast Asian, East Asian, Latin American, and other marginalised communities in Edinburgh. It’s critical for Regenerative Futures Fund to address these gaps and will benefit the group by bringing different experiences and expertise into the decision making.
Exploring how residents can take on roles in the Fund’s governance and in communicating our work through various routes, as offered by RFF staff but also as suggested by residents. More on this in December OEB.
Through this we have been learning:
That the group has stamina and resilience beyond our expectation, having considered so many applications in such depth. We have all recently spent many hot summer days together in warm rooms with big screens.
People who are deeply aware of the needs of their communities provide a refreshingly independent approach to proposal assessments, guided by their collective life experience.
Group reflection can help us all to consider value of working as part of the group
Residents are key to designing the proposal submission process which will need to be more streamlined and focused.
That some of the residents have recognised employability skills developed through our group work.
2. Recruitment and Team Development
We have been:
Spending time with Margaret Morton, a freelance fundraising consultant and lawyer who is helping with fundraising, funder and donor development – Margaret started working with us one day a week from July 2025.
Developing ideas with Sophie Ogilvy, freelance expert in corporate partnerships who is going to do some work with our capacity building cohort.
Calling out for a freelancer to join our team with a focus on communications, supporting the cohort, and events for the Fund. Mairi Lowe will be joining w/c September 15 and has expertise in systems change work.
Through this we have been learning:
A huge amount from Margaret from her many years of experience. Looking forward to similar learning and further gathering of momentum with Mairi.
We are extremely time-scarce, and it is negatively impacting our ability to respond promptly to the cohort. We hope that the freelance support will extend capacity in order to deliver support to the community organisations.
3. Communications and Open Working
We have been:
Press Release on the capacity building cohort (August 2025) - initial coverage in Edinburgh Evening News
Continuing to ‘Work in the Open’ as much as possible and looking forward to making sure we make time as a team for reflective practice and sharing what we are learning, and in time encouraging others to share learning through a range of different channels and methods.
Regularly updating our News & Notes page with press, updates, blogs and events.
Re-sharing a blog written by Jo Kerr CEO of Verture after a session they ran with End Poverty Edinburgh about the links between ending poverty and climate resiliance (here is the link to the original blog reshared with Jo’s blessing).
Talking to our Residents Panel about getting their ideas, reflections, creativity and voices flowing through into our communications – we have a poem to share soon which is a result of reflective writing based on experiences of working together as a group.
Continuing to think about how we document the Residents Panel’s experience from their perspective, from recruitment, through onboarding to decision making and beyond.
The Residents Panel are designing the final application process based on their experiences of the first round of expressions of interest and decisions – we hope to publish more openly on this in due course.
Through this we have been learning:
That there continues to be a huge amount of interest in the model and learning from Regenerative Futures Fund in Scotland and across the UK – and that we need to start thinking about how we can resource sharing of learning while progressing the development of the fund, programme and fundraising at pace.
That we make sure to document and consider how we share the experience of our Residents Panel as a key part of our governance eco-system.
4. Governance Ecosystem
We have been:
Sharing our Governance Ecosystem – current version is here.
Considering the peripheral groups of people who will feed into direction of the programme and who we’d like to weave into our governance eco-system – such as young people and asylum seekers and considering how and when we begin outreach. We are hoping to work with EFI to develop a live visualisation of this living, changing ecosystem.
Meeting with our Oversight & Enabling Board – Meeting #1 happened in December 2024, Meeting #2 in March 2025, Meeting #3 in June 2025. And Meeting #4 will be in September 2025.
Introducing the idea of a ‘working in governance ecosystems not governance hierarchies’ to a panel session at a First Ministers Event in June 2025.
Being interviewed by colleagues at Dark Matter Labs about our approach to ‘many-to-many' governance – case studies will be published later in 2025.
Developing (with initial input from the residents panel) a ‘principles of working together’ document for all parties in the governance ecosystem to sign onto.
Through this we have been learning:
Continued reflection on how we plan an agenda and facilitate a meeting to encourage space for both oversight and enabling.
Who and when might we bring others into the governance eco-system.
There is wider interest in the idea and practice of working in a governance eco-system – more to share on this over time.
5. Fundraising and Contracting
We have been:
Refining our 2-page case for support.
Working with and learning from Margaret Morton (supporting as a freelancer)
Finalising legal agreements with funders.
Asking ‘connectors’ in our network to make introductions to donors and funders.
Internal work with our colleagues within Foundation Scotland – philanthropy and development team.
Diving into and embracing salesforce!
Attending and talking at events such as the London Funders Festival of Learning, the Scottish Grantmakers Conference, and talking at Foundations for Social Justice in Edinburgh.
Joining ACF and Scottish Grantmakers as members.
Lunch & Learn session with prospective donors - #1 in July 2025 and #2 coming up in September 2025.
Talking to partners from other sectors about group information and learning sessions.
Continuing conversations with public sector partners and ongoing conversations with foundations in Scotland and across the UK.
Through this we have been learning
This type of fundraising – long-term, collaborative, bold, strategic – must be rooted in relationship building, trust and therefore takes time.
There has been national and international interest in the model from funders, local authorities and community organisations.
There is particular interest in the collaboration with the local authority, and what is seen as a bold move by a local authority to collaborate with funders and charities in this way
6. Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL)
We have been:
Through the process of sharing our finalised Learning Partner brief with three firms for tender, holding introduction calls and reviewing briefs, we have selected IVAR as the dedicated Learning Partner for the first phase of the learning.
With the Learning Partner, we will be designing and hosting the first Learning Space, as well as a template for hosting the Learning Spaces; developing a process to refine the MEAL framework with community organisations in the cohort; developing a process/ tool to capture learnings in a structured way, from various parties in the governance ecosystem.
7. Field Building & Systems – Learning With Others, Learning Partnerships, Sharing the Model
We have been:
Attending London Funders Festival of Learning Closing event in London after the session we delivered on collaborative pooled funds.
Meeting Naomi @ Footwork and exploring many opportunities for shared learning.
Speaking (Leah) on a panel with Paul Lawrence (CEO of City of Edinburgh Council) talking about collaborative leadership and systems change along with The Prevention Hub and North Lanarkshire Council at the Scottish Government First Ministers Event on Whole Family Wellbing in Edinburgh.
Attending (Aala) a Climate Leaders dinner with Jo Kerr from Verture, Nick Addington from William Grant Foundation, Julie Christie from Environmental Funders Network in Glasgow.
Attending a conference on Migrant Policy Scotland.
Getting together with our Foundation Scotland colleagues in Stirling and learning from Citizens Advice Scotland, DTAS and others.
Attending the Safe Horizons workshop to come together around solutions to violence affecting young people in Edinburgh.
Attending the Collaborative Action Summit on Child Poverty in Birmingham.
Continuing to learn from colleagues developing a new approach to funding transformation and systems change in Clackmannanshire.
Presenting to and learning alongside (Aala & Leah) ACF group ‘Foundations for Social Justice’ who visited Edinburgh in June – thanks to Jim McCormick (The Robertson Trust) and Anand Shukla (Henry Smith Foundation) for inviting us to talk to the group of CEO’s of UK Foundations about Regenerative Futures Fund, talking alongside Carolyn and Chrissie from Corra Foundation talking about the Human Rights Fund for Scotland.
Planning for the follow on from the First Ministers Event in June in Edinburgh, we will be attending the First Ministers Event in Glasgow in September where we will be delivering a session on innovative funding models, alongside Norman Gill from the Clackmannanshire Transformation Space.
Continuing conversations with our colleagues within Edinburgh Futures Institute – including Urska Ozimek and Kristy Docherty about how we deep and genuine ways of putting experts by experience at the heart of our work.
We have been dipping in and out of two work book groups reading Multisolving, convened by Liz Gadd and Everyday Habits for Transforming Systems convened by Keira Oliver.
Starting work on the research project looking into pooled funds for systemic change which is being generously led by Ben Cairns and Chris Mills from IVAR – the research project includes three Scotland-based pooled funds: Clackmannanshire Transformation Space, the Scottish Human Rights Fund (led by Corra Foundation) and Regenerative Futures Fund in Edinburgh. The report and findings will be shared in early 2026.
Through this we have been learning:
That there is much depth and rich thinking and action around many of the themes we are discussing with our residents group, asking community organisations to think about, raising with our Oversight & Enabling Board and challenging ourselves with as a team – and we are keen to keep sharing and learning along with others.
There is a potential gap for a space for funders with dedicated funds/ programs for racial equity in Scotland. If the gap is identified, Aala is interested in inviting funders to a community of practice (e.g. Corra Foundation, Robertson Trust, National Lottery and its delivery partners for the work, RFF) and forging a partnership with organisations dedicated to this work (e.g. CRER, AROS, and inviting in ScotGov).
If anything chimes with you and you’d like to know more, please do get in touch:
Aala Ross (Co-Head) – aala@foundationscotland.org.uk
Leah Black (Co-Head) – leah@foundationscotland.org.uk
Andy Hyde (Participation Lead) – andy@foundationscotland.org.uk
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