Doing and Learning Update #8

Download the PDF of the Doing & Learning Report (May to June 2026) - here

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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 #6 – Covering May and June 2026 

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 seventh 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, Leah Black, plus our new Joe Yauch – have written this collaboratively, with future versions to be contributed to by the wider ecosystem.   

This update is structured around our seven project plans areas:  

1. Fund Design — Process, Programme & Participation 

Fund Design — Process, Programme  

We have been: 

• Sharing the ten-year funding decision with applying organisations, collaborations, and collectives on the final selected cohort of 11 projects. 

• We had a pause for organisations in the cohort to connect with one another, reconnecting after a long hiatus from RFF-facilitated opportunities to come together. We also had a happy day at Princes Street Gardens for photographs, conversations, and time together. 

• We shared an invitation with the 26 projects who dedicated time to the capacity-building phase and submitted proposals to: 

• Receive feedback through a conversation with Aala, sometimes joined by Helen Wray (Foundation Scotland) and/or Leah. As of 31 July, we have held 17 feedback calls, alongside two further conversations — meaning 19 of the 26 projects have taken the opportunity to connect with us. 

• Stay involved in the Regenerative Futures Fund’s thinking and planning around a future field-building and systems convening space. 

• Explore opportunities to take submitted proposals into Foundation Scotland’s donor networks, where there may be potential for further support. 

• Engage with the forthcoming independent evaluation, with a clear opportunity to shape and contribute to the evaluation of both our grantmaking approach and the capacity-building phase. 

• We have been working closely with colleagues across Foundation Scotland’s CSS, Finance, and Philanthropy teams to support the grantmaking process — with huge thanks to Conor, Kathryn, and Helen for their care, flexibility and support. 

• We are planning a meaningful onboarding process for the cohort that will take place over the course of a few weeks in September 2026, creating space to build relationships, develop a shared sense of purpose, and begin to explore what it might mean to work collectively. We are also developing a communications channel for the cohort, alongside a live anonymous feedback mechanism, so that we can continue to learn from and improve how we connect and work with organisations. We want to keep asking what it will take for projects to work together across themes, places and theories of change, and what forms of support might enable that collaboration to emerge on their own terms. 

Through this we have been learning: 

• It is difficult to design a process that can respond meaningfully to the needs and circumstances of 37 projects, representing 64 organisations, while also departing so significantly from the more traditional funding processes that organisations are accustomed to navigating in Edinburgh. The resident-designed proposal questions, the invitation to submit short, focused proposals, a tentative and flexible budget, and the use of a visualisation of long-term change through the Three Horizons map are all distinctive elements of this Fund. 

• Due to those unique elements, some organisations expressed that they would have preferred to develop a proposal document based on applications they have already created — or continue to create — for other funders. We recognise and appreciate the additional time and labour involved in developing a new and different application. At the same time, the intention behind this Fund has always been to create the conditions for organisations to approach their work differently: to offer resources and support, alongside mostly optional touch-points, that enable people to think beyond the immediate demands of funding applications and towards longer-term transformation. 

• We have sought to capture reflections, criticisms, challenges and moments of impact through the feedback conversations. These will contribute to a wider process evaluation, alongside other routes for sharing learning through surveys and potentially interviews. Our hope is that this learning can be made useful beyond RFF — particularly for other funders seeking to develop more collaborative, participatory and relational approaches to grantmaking. 

• We are particularly interested in how different groups — from small, grassroots and unconstituted groups to larger, more established and better-resourced collectives — experienced and made sense of the process. We see the different experiences of the process not just as feedback, but as important learning about how power, capacity, and access shape people's ability to engage with new approaches to funding. These insights could be valuable to a wide range of funders, from the Council to charitable trusts, and could help open more deliberate, thoughtful and genuinely participatory approaches to the design of future funding processes. 

• One of our strongest hopes is that the imagination, reflection, and systems thinking that organisations developed through the application process does not end with a single funding bid. Organisations have already expressed an interest in continuing this work, and we are excited about supporting projects to carry these ways of thinking forward — particularly around long-term transformation, collective care, and systems change — into future funding applications, organisational practice and wider collaborations. 

• The residents and the Regenerative Futures Fund team have been deeply sincere in our offer and our efforts to support the organisations and projects we have come to know through the capacity-building phase and submitted applications. We are delighted that so many wish to remain involved: with the Fund, with our generous host Foundation Scotland, with the wider cohort they encountered through this process, and with the broader ecosystem of systems change work across the city. We look forward to continuing relationships with people and organisations we increasingly see not simply as applicants, but as collaborators, fellow organisers, friendly faces, trusted colleagues, and people collectively working towards a more just, caring and hopeful future for Edinburgh. 

• We also want to recognise the critical role that Foundation Scotland plays in enabling the work of our small team. From support with hiring and recruitment, to impromptu training, advice, and direct, responsive support when we need it, the contribution of our colleagues and host organisation is difficult to measure. We are deeply grateful for the generosity, trust, and practical solidarity that Foundation Scotland continues to extend to us. 

Fund Design — Participation   

We have been:  

• Taking space with the Residents’ Panel to review and reflect after the intense work of decision-making between January and April 2026. 

• Co-designing and conducting a thorough evaluation of the resident experience – from onboarding through to final decision-making. We wrote a long list of survey questions and realised it could be an arduous task for residents. So, we talked it through with them and they asked if they could work in small groups, where possible, to discuss the questions and reflect with each other before answering.  

• We split the questions into two sections. Part 1 focused on ‘individual’ reflections and Part 2 covered group work. Everyone completed part 1 online while two small groups worked on part 2 in person before answering online.  

• Organising and hosting an interview between three residents and the Edinburgh Inquirer, ready for a piece to be written and published on the day of the cohort announcement. This required a good deal of preparation, working through what to expect with residents, working with Foundation Scotland Communications colleagues, and then debriefing afterwards.  

• Organising and hosting a meeting of three residents a small group of Foundation Scotland Trustees. This was a valuable gathering which helped the Trustees to better understand the work of the RFF and, in particular, our approach to resident-led decision-making. We had lunch together and updated the Trustees on our progress so far and some of the details about the decision-making process. We then had conversations in small groups, enabling Trustees to ask more detailed questions about the individual experiences of residents.  

• Planning for the future. We have begun conversations with residents about the role of the Residents’ Panel in the short- and medium-term future by holding workshops and individual discussions to consider 6- and 12-month windows. This has generated some interesting ideas for group activities and roles in the operation and governance of the Regenerative Futures Fund.  

• Asking individual residents how they might want to build on their own experiences of being part of the Regenerative Futures Fund team.  

• Andy wrote a piece for our website that reflected on what the residents had undertaken to complete the decision-making process and how their commitment to learn and work together was the experience required, not ‘qualifications’ for decision making. Read the piece here! 

Through this we have been learning: 

• It takes time for a process to settle in our minds before we can start to reflect on it. The response to our request to the residents for feedback was good (most residents completed the evaluation) and the residents who reflected in person before submitting their responses seemed to value the chance to discuss (rather than just remember) their experience.  

• Andy’s writing on ‘qualifications’, in response to those asking what skills we looked for in residents, helped him to think through the residents’ role with more clarity. It points to the idea of ‘qualification’ (in the professional sense) being redundant in this work. Experience, appreciation, understanding, and commitment are key traits that often go unvaluead – some come before and some develop during participation.  

• Planning for the future can be exciting, but it can also be challenging especially for those in financial insecurity. We need to be in the right place to consider the future and the role of the Regenerative Futures Fund team is not only to support people but to work through their present moment, but also be to ready to support residents when they ask to be supported.  

2. Recruitment and Team Development 

We have been:  

• In March 2026 we advertised a new role, which will be the fifth team member of the team - ‘Senior Partnerships Advisor - Trusts and Foundations’. Our new colleague Maddy Cross joined the team on 20 July! Here is a little about Maddy:  

• Maddy joins the team from Scottish youth homelessness charity Rock Trust, where she worked across Fundraising and Communications for nine years. Over the years Rock Trust has shifted to a systems change approach, advocating for investment in prevention, and establishing a cross-sector coalition dedicated to ending youth homelessness in Scotland. Maddy’s experience of the impact of short-term, restrictive funding, at Rock Trust and elsewhere, has deeply influenced her fundraising practice and approach to developing strategies and partnerships. She is passionate about the charity sector and excited to play a role in facilitating greater trust, collaboration, and innovation in the funding landscape. Outside of work, Maddy also writes prose fiction. Her love of writing and community has steered her professional choices, along with a tendency for hopeless optimism and an ability to move on from rejection (key to surviving in fundraising!). She lives in Edinburgh with her partner, two small children, and a massive golden retriever who eats rocks and rolls in mud a lot. 

• We are continuing to benefit from the expertise, networks, and support of Margaret Morton, our fundraising consultant and lawyer who is helping with fundraising and funder and donor development. We plan to continue working with Margaret until Autumn 2026. 

Through this we have been learning: 

• That a detailed but theoretical operational plan and programme design is just that-- theory! This is a constant reminder that we need to keep being open-minded and flexible about what type of skills we need in the team at different stages of development.  

3. Communications and Open Working 

We have been:  

• Making our HUGE comms announcement at the end of May, announcing our ten-year cohort! 

• Developing a communications strategy to fit the launch of our cohort and all the exciting developments that come with it. Our plan is to share what the cohort organisations are doing individually, how they’re collaborating, what we’re reading, which events the cohort will be attending, and how the fund is evolving alongside the cohort on a regular basis. 

• Spreading the news about our cohort and the work they’re going to be undertaking in the press! From The Edinburgh Reporter, to The Scotsman, to IVAR, the organisations and their projects were written about in many different areas. Check out this page on our website for links to all the various articles. 

• Writing more frequently for the “News and Notes” page on our website. Recently, Andy has written about what qualifications we value in systems change work, Leah has mused about the development of the fund after 5 years of working on it, and Aala has delved into the importance of a resident-led approach to our work. 

• Sharing those pieces of writing on all our platforms, including LinkedIn, where we engage with a broad network of third sector organisations and professionals. Joe also rebooted our Instagram account (@regenerative.futures.fund), which has allowed us to communicate with a broader swathe of the public, as well as many of the organisations in our cohort! We hope to grow our presence on both platforms to expand our community. 

• Re-launching our newsletter as a regular publication entitled “What’s Growing.” Featuring updates about events, spotlights on different members of the cohort, and links to our writing and things we’ve read recently, this will be a one-stop shop to get all of the news about the fund! Featuring updates about events, features on different members of the cohort, and links to our writing and things we’ve read recently, this will be a one-stop shop to get all of the news about the fund! 

• We are aiming to publish the newsletter every 6 weeks, but the exact date might change to accommodate other events. 

• If you’d like to join the mailing list to receive “What’s Growing,” please follow this link or email Joe (joseph@foundationscotland.org.uk) 

• Making great use of the photos from our May photoshoot with the cohort and residents! This was a wonderful experience for everyone, as it allowed us to come together, celebrate the launch of the fund, and uncover new connections across our community. 

• Our Foundation Scotland colleagues Claire Montgomery and Deborah Cowan helped us organise this event from start to finish, and photographer Lewis Houghton did a terrific job of capturing our community on what was a sunny morning on the Mound. We would like to say a huge thank you to Claire, Deborah, and Lewis for making that event such a success! 

• Rethinking the design of our website. Our website currently has a lot of information, forms, and links for previous stages of the fund’s development, which make it more difficult to navigate. As part of our commitment to working in the open, we are not going to delete any of these pages, but we will archive many of them to make the page easier to use. Additionally, we are currently thinking about ways to adjust the overall structure of the website to better suit the current and future state of the Fund. 

Through this we have been learning:  

• What a joyous moment it was for everyone to reach the public announcement 🥳– for our community organisations in the cohort to know they have the security of long-term funding; for our Residents’ Panel to see the fruits of their labour after many months of reading, scoring, voting, and many conversations and for them to see the organisations coming together at the photoshoot; for our funders to see the value of their support after many years of planning, designing, and internal decision-making about funding for the pooled fund; for our new individual philanthropists to celebrate such a significant milestone at the beginning of their journeys as part of the collaboration; and for us as a team to watch and support new connections, friendships, and trust growing. Everything seems much more real now that we know who we will be working alongside for the next ten years! 

• 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 share resources and learning while progressing the development of the fund, programme, and fundraising at pace. 

• That we need to make sure to document and consider how we share the experience of our Residents Panel as a key part of our governance eco-system. 

• That many of the cohort representatives already knew each other, and that they are eagerly making more connections with one another already! Our May photography event made it abundantly clear to all of us that the best thing we can do to support this beautiful ecosystem of passionate organisations is provide them with the resources to operate and a forum to nurture pre-existing relationships and cultivate new connections. Joe has noted that those interactions and relationships remind him of the Social Movement Ecology piece that we recently shared as part of our first newsletter. 

• That capacity-building is an ongoing, institutionalised process. As we have begun connecting the cohort with the funding, we have received several questions about bank accounts, financial arrangements, and ways to collaborate with other organisations. If it wasn’t already clear that there are systemic barriers to deter communities from changing systems of inequality, it is abundantly evident now. As we embark on this 10-year journey, success will depend in large part on our ability to support and guide organisations through this institutional maze. 

4. Governance Ecosystem 

We have been:  

• Embarking on the process of Board power-sharing. This is a delicate process, and we are lucky to have a Residents Panel and Oversight & Enabling Board (OEB) that are supportive of shared principles of empathy, kindness and respect.  

• Sharing our Governance Ecosystem – the current version is here. We are continuing to plan and consider new ways to present this ecosystem map, and we hope to work with partners to develop a live visualization of this ever-changing ecosystem.   

• Continuing to consider the peripheral groups of people who will feed into the direction of the programme and who we’d like to weave into our governance eco-system – such as young people, early years, people seeking asylum, disability justice activists, and more. We have begun careful outreach, but please contact us if you would like to support the learning and growth of our governance ecosystem. 

• Meeting with our Oversight & Enabling Board – Meeting #1 happened in December 2024, Meeting #2 in March 2025, Meeting #3 in June 2025, Meeting #4 in September 2025, Meeting #5 was in December 2025, Meeting #6 was in-person in February 2026, Meeting #7 was in May 2026, and we are looking forward to and planning for an in-person meeting in August 2026 for Meeting #8. 

• Continuing to think about how to include and engage residents into the Oversight & Enabling Board after they joined the December 2025 meeting. This process will continue into the August 2026 meeting and beyond.  

Through this we have been learning:  

• How to plan an agenda and facilitate a meeting to encourage space for both oversight and enabling. 

• The importance of carefully considering and planning how we invite others into the room, and who might benefit from having a seat within our governance eco-system (and always, who is not in the room?). 

• 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: 

• Sharing our newly updated our 2-page case for support (May 2026 version) - on the website here and PDF version here. This has been updated to include a link to the newly announces cohort. 

• Celebrating that we are sitting at £9.13 million committed to the £15.8 million pooled fund! This total now includes three local philanthropists who give through their family trusts, in addition to larger UK and Scotland-wide focused Foundations and the Local Authority (City of Edinburgh Council). 

• Establishing the Professional Connectors Circle, a new group of professional advisors who we brought together over lunch to share our learning about the ambitions of Regenerative Futures Fund, our newly announced cohort, residents' decision making, and more, learning which they can then pass to clients. The first gathering was a resounding success, and we are now planning the second one for autumn. 

• Continually thankful to the funders and donors who have been open to coffees, conversations, introductions, online meetings, and who continue to challenge us on many aspects of the Regenerative Futures Fund.  

• Deeply appreciative of each introduction or new connection between our existing network and new funders and donors. 

• Working with a range of UK-wide Trusts and Foundations to develop proposals towards joining the pooled fund. 

• Continuing our internal work with our colleagues within Foundation Scotland – especially the philanthropy, communications, people and development teams. Thanks to everyone who is helping us in so many ways, this really is a huge collective effort.  

• Welcoming Maddy Cross into the team, our new Senior Trusts and Foundations Development Advisor!  

• Continuing conversations with public sector partners in Scotland, and ongoing conversations with aligned 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 and trust, which means it takes time. 

• There has been national and international interest in the model from funders, community foundations, local authorities, and community organisations. 

• There is particular interest in the collaboration with the local authority, as it is seen as a bold move for a local authority to collaborate with funders and charities in this way. 

6. Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) 

We have been:  

• Wrapping up our work with IVAR, our Learning Partner for Year Zero, to have an informed and carefully-planned framework for working and bringing people into our Learning Space, as well as refining our learning inquiry strands that we will continue to refine with the 11 funded projects.  

• Reaching out to potential partners to work as facilitators alongside us for the onboarding of the cohort and for future support (planning, training, facilitation) of the cohort to build a collective identity and vision for this work. More on this in the coming months.  

• Continuing to plan a thoughtful process for reviewing, sharing, and archiving of RFF processes and learnings. 

• Planning for the process of supporting understanding and uptake of various Monitoring & Evaluation tools, as well as laying the groundwork for a framework to hold projects accountable to their communities and designing and booking in time for the Learning Space (first planned in late September) that will convene residents, members from the cohort, and funders.  

• Finalising and sharing our Terms of Reference for an independent evaluation of the grantmaking process and resident-led decision-making process. We put out the call to work with an independent evaluator and are pleased to be working with Phronesis Partnership (Karen McNeil and Dr Linda Irvine Fitzpatrick). We are anticipating a final draft of the report by the end of summer. 

• Karen has a 25-year background that stretches across health and social care improvement, change management, and fundraising. Linda has similar experience helping communities, public services, and funders navigate challenges, and she has a specialisation in helping organisations understand the ways that poverty, trauma, and stigma shape people’s lives. 

• Beginning to plan, with our Residents Panel, for a resident-led reflection on their involvement in decision-making. We are planning to create a resident-led toolkit on participation. There is much more to consider, but we are excited to work with our residents to share their rich learning and experience. 

Through this we have been learning:   

• That building Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) and holding the role of record-keeper and reporter to the funders and Council is critical for the success of the Fund. We’re also recognising through our engagement with IVAR, with the cohort of community organisations, and through our own work how important it is to give the co-design of MEAL processes as much space, time, and thought as possible.  

7. Field Building & Systems – Learning With Others, Learning Partnerships, Sharing the Model 

We have been:  

• Trying to get all our field learning and field building into one place here - this is a work in progress that we will continue to populate as an alternative to listing the developments here. While we develop that resource, however, here are a few highlights: 

• Inspired by a conversation with a UK foundation about how funders can ‘robustly resource field building,’ we have been thinking as a team about our field building work and how we can expand this beyond our own ecosystem. More on this soon. 

• In May we launched the report concluding our research project looking into pooled funds for systemic change with community voice at their hearts, 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 our fund in Edinburgh. The report was launched with an online webinar in May 2026, and there will also be an in-person launch and panel discussion in Edinburgh on 9 September 2026 (book a spot here). 

• Andy is trialing a weekly opportunity to meet our coworking-colleagues to meet and share ideas over an early coffee. We have common interests but rarely get (make) the time to connect intentionally. We are Islands of Coherence that can benefit from connecting, away from the ‘sea of chaos’. 

• Leah & Aala have been thinking ahead with the team at UKCF when we will speak at their annual conference in November 2026.  

• In April, Leah attended an event organised by Philanthropy Impact in partnership with Christian Aid at The Library of Mistakes, learning with other philanthropy professionals about social investment and different models of collaborative philanthropy. 

• We were invited to bring our learning to help shape a new collaborative fund led by Gemma Drake at Big Change, through taking part in an interview and being part of a design group.  

• Aala attended Ten Years’ Time’s Community of Practice event at The Melting Pot, a warm and joyful evening bringing together Black and People of Colour working across charities, trusts and foundations, arts and heritage, and other related industries. It was a valuable opportunity to share experiences and stories, build stronger relationships and connections, and strengthen a sense of community in a sector where racial diversity remains profoundly lacking. 

• We convened our first Professional Connectors Circle, a learning space for a new group of professional advisors in Scotland working in law, finance and wealth advice, to share learning with them about Regenerative Futures Fund as a different way of approaching philanthropy. Professional Connectors Circle #2 and #3 are in planning stages.  

• Through the development of Regenerative Futures Fund, Leah has been part of a learning group with Dark Matter Labs for the past 3 years looking at the possibilities and practicalities around many-to-many governance sitting at the heart of complex collaborations. This work came to a conclusion in Sheffield at the Many To Many Governance Gathering reflecting on the learning to date. Here is the Many To Many Systems website, here is a case study on Regenerative Futures Fund, and here is an interview with Leah about her involvement in the Many To Many programme.  

• In May, Leah shared a stage with our EFI Ward colleague Catherine-Rose Stocks-Rankin, Co-Director of SPRE at Bridging Communities, organised by The Melting Pot. Sam from The Melting Pot chaired the session beautifully and covered a range of topics including reflecting on the Social Action Inquiry themes ranging from Time To Connect, Time To Relate, Time To Heal, and Time To Trust. Sam also asked how we can weave those topics into our work and resource them, whilst also giving ourselves permission to take time. We also touched on ideas around connecting up Islands of Coherence and Islands of Sanity. More to come on these topics! 

• Andy, Aala and Leah got together with Catherine-Rose to think through which aspects of the Social Action Inquiry (which was co-led by Catherine-Rose and Sam Anderson) we can bring forward into RFF. Much rich learning and more to follow. In particular, for anyone interested in social action, we recommend the Wavicle Podcast. 

• We attended a version of this workshop designed and facilitated by Alisha and Carlos from IG Advisors in partnership with Turcan Connell, exploring together (through role play!) the different decisions that organisations can make around where they will and will not accept money from. Here is a little more about the last event that took place in London. 

• In June, Aala and Leah worked with Giles from Foundation Scotland to plan a visit from European colleagues from Community Foundations through European Community Foundations Initiative (ECFI) who were visiting Edinburgh to learn about community funding in Scotland. The group was made up of colleagues from Germany, Romania, Serbia, Belgium, Hungary, Portugal, Northern Ireland, and England. Our colleagues Lorraine and Kanie and at Making Rights Real kindly hosted a visit for the group to learn about their work with Cables Wynd Residents where they have taken a human rights approach to advocating for improvements to housing in the city. Leah also attended the ECFI Movement Leaders Day, where she participated in fascinating conversations about the role of community Foundations in fostering democratic resilience. Here is a blog by James from ECFI about their visit. 

• The whole RFF team attended the Foundation Scotland annual Summer Conference which had a focus on future planning. Andy, Leah, and our colleague Rachel Searle from Foundation Scotland ran a session for staff and trustees on Three Horizons, how we have used with Regenerative Futures Fund, and how others might use it for designing programmes.  

• We attended a fascinating sharing of learning session with Sara Allan from Greater Cambridge Impact, a £10 million, 10-year impact investment vehicle focused on impact investments into organisations that improve life chances for highly disadvantaged groups, while generating sustainable long-term revenue. Thanks to Louise Harman, Partner with Bates Well, for the hugely relevant and useful introduction. 

• Leah was interviewed by Philippa Knott Kos (in a freelance capacity; we have previously worked with Phillippa in her role with Devon Community Foundation) and Celia Hannon of System Shift. This interview was part of a small number of conversations linked to the International System Shift Collaborative, with those with experience of establishing or delivering funder collaboratives - especially in a ‘systems change’ context. System Shift are aiming to explore trends in the field, the different archetypes of collaboratives emerging and the direction of future travel. We will share the outcomes of the research in the coming months. 

• Following a lovely connection made on LinkedIn, Leah met with Mareeha Niaz while she was visiting Edinburgh. Mareeha had been following our work from her US-wide role as Director of Programs at Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO). GEO are a network of philanthropic funders across the US who are focused on racial equity and racial justice. We look forward to continuing the conversations with Mareeha and her colleagues to share learning between our networks. 

• Aala and Leah were invited to talk at the Edinburgh Poverty Network about the stage we have reached with the Regenerative Futures Fund. Great to reconnect with colleagues across the city who have been involved in the development of the fund over the past few years, including members of End Poverty Edinburgh. We are looking forward to regularly joining the Edinburgh Poverty Network with colleagues across our cohort. 

• Joe attended a webinar by Global Green Grants about the importance of developing an intersectional approach to climate-based funding. In particular, the session focused on the ways in which the climate crisis will disproportionately affect people living with disabilities, and how to ensure that funding addresses that inequality.  

• Joe also learned more about relational practice and research through a webinar that the Universities of Edinburgh and Bath co-organised. It was a great opportunity to hear about how similar organisations approach community engagement—the importance of long-term funding was apparent. 

Through this we have been learning:   

• About the massive appetite for continued system convening and field building through a range of conversations with funders over the last few weeks. 

• About the interest in field building approaches from funders. Also love to see Jo from UKCF and her newly expanded and named role – Director of Field Building. - look forward to learning more from Jo as she grows into this role. 

• We are thrilled to begin working with the cohort of 11 projects to continue exploring how we can best contribute to building the third sector, in a range of areas including pooled funds, participation, shifting power to residents, philanthropy advising, place-based system change, and much more.

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   

• Joe Yauch (Programme Coordinator) - joseph@foundationscotland.org.uk  

• Maddy Cross (Senior Partnerships Advisor Trusts & Foundation) - maddy@foundationscotland.org.uk  

• Sign up to the Regenerative Futures Fund mailing list here