The Edinburgh Inquirer Article: Unique new fund that aims to transform the fight against poverty in Edinburgh

March 2025

This article has been written by David Forsyth for the Edinburgh Inquirer and was published on 11 March 2025 - here is a link to the original article and a PDF of the article can be downloaded here

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Unique new fund that aims to transform the fight against poverty in Edinburgh

Capital idea will be closely watched around the world as it creates a long-term collaboration rooted in communities

By David Forsyth

11 March 2025

It may have started with the kernel of an idea on an Edinburgh cycle path, but it has now formed into a reality that will help tackle poverty and transform lives throughout Scotland’s Capital.

The launch of the Regenerative Futures Fund will help charities in the city do something that many felt they could never achieve – long term certainty of funding, bringing long-term planning and impact.

And while the idea that sparked a pooled fund of £15 million to support the work came to Leah Black as she cycled to the job she then held running a community organisation in Wester Hailes more than two years ago, it has been shaped and developed by a whole host of dedicated people who saw the opportunity it presented.

The Fund, unique to Edinburgh, is specifically designed to step into the space of long-term, unrestricted funding, placing trust in communities that they themselves can best allocate resources where they are most needed and will make the biggest impact.

Empowering communities

Already around £6million has been raised, and work is well underway in talking to potential funders about the remaining £9 million needed to hit the target. As Albert Einstein said: “Creativity is contagious. Pass it on.”

The long-term approach is only a part of the idea. The other key element is the unrestricted nature of the funding, providing long-term cash to organisations working on the ground and accepting they will best know what requires to be done.

That means funders, often used to having a significant say in how the money they provide should be used, need to buy-in to the idea that they won’t be making that decision, which will instead lie within the communities experiencing poverty, for example, and trusting them to know how best resources should be allocated.

The launch is a source of personal satisfaction to Leah, not only as she sees her idea take form as well as shape, but because of the huge collaborative effort it has inspired. “So many organisations and people have shaped this idea. Their enthusiasm and knowledge and hard work has meant we are now able to launch the Regenerative Futures Fund with real confidence.

“We have so many amazing organisations working in the city who are passionate and can help deliver the changes we all need to see but unfortunately the current funding landscape can often stand in their way.”

Long-term finance

Charities have often been forced to view a funding horizon that is counted in months, rather than years, with funds restricted in terms of their use. The Fund changes that mindset. Leah, now co-head of the Fund, added: “A radical shake up is needed. The Regenerative Futures Fund is different.

“Collaboratively designed by local people in community organisations, campaigners, funders and the local authority, the ten-year pooled fund presents a unique opportunity to support and learn with others to enable a long-term community-led approach to systemic change.”

Through the fund, grants of up to £100,000 per year will be offered to around 10-15 community organisations, enabling them “to think and plan for the long-term.”

Jim McCormick of The RobertsonTrust

It’s an approach that has found favour with the local authority, and also with funders. One of Scotland’s biggest grant-making organisations, The Robertson Trust, has committed a whopping £1 million to the Fund over the next decade.

Jim McCormick, Chief Executive of The Robertson Trust, is a big supporter of the thinking behind the Regenerative Futures Trust, and it is a direction of travel his organisation has already embraced.

“In the past few years we have gone from less than 40% of the funding we approve being unrestricted to more than 60%, and more than 90% of our funding decisions are for awards of more than three years.

“We are also very interested in how collaborations with others can improve the impact of what we do. This kind of long-term collaboration involving communities who know what is needed to tackle the issue of poverty in their area, the involvement of the city council which is a critical building-block in the approach, and also with like-minded funders, is very interesting to us.

“There will also be a great deal of learning that we can all take from this approach, and that may well help shape delivery of many services in future. That is all very important to us.”

Trusted partners

The decision-making process which will see local communities empowered to make calls on where resources should best be allocated is not a problem, he said: “We have been moving in this direction for a few years now. It is about sharing power, and acknowledging the lived experience that exists within communities.”

The role of independent charity Foundation Scotland in both hosting and helping fund the new Fund is also reassuring, he said. “Foundation Scotland is a trusted partner for many funders.”

Gillian Goode, Funding Manager at Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, said they were committing £500,000 and described the new Fund as an “ambitious vision to reimagine and demonstrate” and alternative model of citizen-led change.

“Communities have no shortage of ideas for how to explore and creative 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.”

Cllr Jane Meagher

Edinburgh City Council leader Jane Meagher said: “Here in Edinburgh we have an ambitious target to end poverty by 2030. 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 to help us end poverty together. This innovative model is unique to Edinburgh.”

The city council is also a funder, and Councillor Meagher added: “The team is well placed to start working alongside those with first hand understandings of poverty. This will help make a lasting difference - ensuring their voices are at the heart of decision-making.”

The new fund will not just be of interest in Edinburgh, but is likely to be closely followed much further afield. Aala Ross, co-head of the Fund, said it would directly address “the huge problem we have with short-termism. Transformative thinking - and doing - requires long-term resource.

“We know that this isa funding programme with a difference, and we know that other cities and funders will be watching and we will openly share our learning across the next ten years.”