The Need
Background
It is a pilot partnership programme from Virgin Money Foundation, The National Lottery Community Fund, Northern Soul and the Foundation’s Youth Advisors.
How it works
Through the programme, the young Change Makers receive:
A grant of up to £10,000, paid monthly over a period of six months to give young people time to develop and launch their idea
A travel bursary to cover the cost of up to four weeks travel to research other community driven projects in the UK or abroad
Access to a supportive peer group of exceptional young people committed to creating change
Opportunities to meet social entrepreneurs who have created successful initiatives that drive change
Introductions to other organisations that can help after they have completed the programme
Approach
Outcomes
Assumptions
Creating Positive Change
The evaluation of the Change Makers programme has found that directly supporting young people has enabled them to create (self reported) positive change in their communities.
The majority of the young Change Makers (11 out of 13) stated that the programme has enabled them to accelerate positive change in their local communities. Several (4 of 7) young Change Makers felt that the most significant change for them was an increase in their self-belief.
The programme financially enabled me to lay a foundation for change and solidify plans for the organisations’ future... Now, I am confident to continue on, knowing what I am doing and how to get there.
The programme has provided fabulous opportunities and allowed me to develop as an entrepreneur.
Most valued elements of the programme for the second round of grantees
The most valued elements of the programme for the second round of grantees were the in-person learning days. At these learning days, the young people could learn from each other and build connections. This resulted in strong bonds being formed amongst the group.
The grant funding was also very much seen as valuable for the second round of grantees. The young Change Makers from both rounds were generally positive about how the flexible, needs-based support enabled them to achieve their goals. This needs-based support included providing co-working spaces / financial support for an office, a counsellor and a chaperone for international travel.
All six Change Makers from cohort 2 who responded to the question stated that they would rate their travel experience 10 out of 10.
I‘ve realised I learn better when I’m actually there talking to someone.
The people I met during my travels literally changed my perspective on life and my direction as a changemaker. Northern Soul were absolutely brilliant in supporting me… A life changing experience I’ll never forget.
The amount of learning I've done here is tenfold to the qualification that I've just gotten from two years at college.
Whilst the majority of the first round of grantees had already set up their own organisations prior to their enrolment in the programme, the majority of the second round had not, and the programme enabled them to do so.
The majority of the young Change Makers surveyed felt that their involvement in the programme had strengthened their organisation / initiative to transform their local community.
I have… developed and extended my offer, reaching out to different vulnerable children and young people and schools; made important connections with other organisations, and; am writing a joint funding bid with a charity for disabled children .
When the grantees from the first round were recently asked whether they are still working on creating social impact, all 9 of them stated that they were. Some examples are as follows:
Two Change Makers secured £25,000 each from Big Change to continue to grow their initiatives
'Against the Odds’, established by a young Change Maker, is now partnering with the 'Anthony Walker Foundation’
'Northern Fortress Films' have launched ‘We’re Rolling’ – a filmmaking challenge for young people in Bradford, in partnership with 'SkillsHouse’
'Northern Muslim Women', established by a young Change Maker, is partnering with the charity 'RECLAIM' on a year-long programme called ‘Muslim Girls Finding Power’
One Change Maker has launched the mental health app, 'Urbackup,' for veterans, which was developed pro bono by Durham University
Another Change Maker, working very locally across a few streets, has connected with two other local organisations, bringing staffing and funding to put on more events to improve residents’ wellbeing.
The young Change Makers generally agreed that there wasn’t much media coverage of their initiatives provided through the programme. The young Change Makers would have appreciated a structured marketing and communications plan, which might have included podcasts, Tweets and being linked to the Virgin Money and Virgin Money Foundation brand.
Young Change Makers who are at the start of developing their ideas need guidance from their mentors and structure to meetings. The evaluation found that meetings with their mentors and method groups worked better for the first round of grantees, perhaps because these grantees’ initiatives were already more developed, so they were able to lead the discussions and get what they needed from them.
Other challenges that the young Change Makers cited as a result of their involvement in the programme included: A reduction in wellbeing due to the pressure of the programme; higher time commitment than anticipated, and; high levels of burn out. To some extent, this was anticipated by the Virgin Money Foundation and Northern Soul, and was the reason for the focus on pastoral support as a strong feature of the programme.
I felt like it was very surface level kind of what they covered. And I feel like the marketing behind it could have been so powerful and kind of lifting us as Change Makers and using that platform over the last six months, but it felt like there was like a touch point at the start, and then probably something at the end. And it's like in the middle, they haven't really checked in with us to see how things are progressing.
As Change Makers, you forget to ask that you need a bit of help and support and, you know, it becomes a bit alien to do such thing.
The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust’s Churchill Fellowship
The Blagrave Trust’s Challenge and Change Programme
Lessons learnt from across the three programmes included:
How to support the young community leaders - allocating small pots of unrestricted funds was found to be useful in meeting emergent needs and providing flexible support. Co-designing the success of the programme with the young community leaders was also found to be beneficial.
The management of risks - by using the advice of charity lawyers to develop risk mitigation measures, rolling out safeguarding training for the young people and dealing with risks as they arose.
Building the relationship and trust with the young community leaders - balancing both the management of risks with an adaptable model to support the individual young people, as they require.
1
Set clear expectations about how the funds will be provided: Funders should consider how to manage the risks of investing in individual young leaders, whilst also fostering a sense of trust between the two parties.
2
Offer individualised, pastoral support, as this can be key to the success of a programme that invests in young community leaders. The young Change Makers supported through this programme were generally positive about how the flexible, needs-based support enabled them to achieve their goals.
3
Ensure that the young leaders have structures in place to allow them to connect with their peers. This is because of the value of peer-to-peer learning, idea exchange and the sense of solidarity for young leaders, who may sometimes feel like they are alone in their quest to affect change.
4
Include as much face-to-face time as possible. In the post-Covid-19 era, remote working has become the norm, but it must not be forgotten that remote communication and connection is not as effective as face-to-face working.
5
Consider involving previous young leaders or other young people as ‘mentors’, who would have ’lived experience’ and may connect more with the young person grantees.
6
Facilitate alumni network meetings and informal meet-ups, so that past young leaders can connect and attend open training workshops through the programme.
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9
Establish participatory Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) from the outset of the programme. This would help to set expectations and enhance the appropriateness of ongoing MEL, as well as build the young community leaders’ capacity in the MEL of their initiatives.
10
The programme has demonstrated that empowering, supporting and developing young Change Makers can accelerate and support a range of positive changes in local communities across Northern England when funded in a way that nurtures and supports young people and their aspirations.
The vast majority of the young Change Makers were empowered through the programme to create positive change in their local communities. The young Change Makers experienced a number of positive developments and improved personal capabilities as a result of being involved in the programme. For example, several Change Makers stressed an increase in their self-belief and confidence to facilitate community change, now and in the future. Others highlighted how the network they had formed, and the friendships they had made, created a motivating and supportive framework for change around them. For some, this led to the simple, but reinforcing insight that there are others that also care about what happens in their community. Overall, the sum of the personal developments that the young Change Makers experienced, along with their newly acquired skills, is deemed highly likely through this evaluation, to have contributed to an acceleration of positive change in their local communities.
The programme financially enabled me to lay a foundation for change and solidify plans for the organisations’ future... Now, I am confident to continue on, knowing what I am doing and how to get there.
