Community Grants Panel
The Role:
United in Hammersmith & Fulham
The Client:
UNITED in Hammersmith & Fulham was created by Hammersmith United Charities in 2018 in partnership with Dr Edwards and Bishop King’s Fulham Charity as a legacy of their mutual 400–year anniversary celebrations.
Both charities have been able to support the people of Hammersmith and Fulham for four centuries from the generosity and foresight of their benefactors. Their aim is to recreate this spirit of community philanthropy and enable the people to who live here today to join together for the benefit of future generations.
They are part of the London’s Giving network. UNITED fund activities that promote a strong sense of togetherness in Hammersmith and Fulham and connect those who want to support the community with local causes that will best use their investment, whether this is by sharing money, time, or resources. UNITED in Hammersmith and Fulham received its Charity registration in 2019.
In only two years UNITED has got off to a great start, raising and giving out funds, forming active partnerships and established UNITED as a champion for local causes.
The Challenge
UNITED in Hammersmith and Fulham were seeking to appoint a diverse group of six local people to make up the first ever Community Grant Panel who would represent and champion the needs and interests of people in Hammersmith & Fulham. They would bring a keen appreciation for the rich fabric of communities who live, work, study, shop and play in the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham.
The Panel would then be pivotal in the discussion and assessment of small grants applications and in making decisions to award grants to local groups. Those grants will ensure these groups can develop and implement projects and initiatives that bring people together, combat exclusion, and help the local people make positive changes towards a better life.
The Executive Director was particularly interested in candidates who were ideally residents of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham), who bring local knowledge of the community. The panellists would need to represent the people and the interest of the community by participating in discussions about grant applications. The successful candidates would need to be good listeners with experience of working within a team.
The panellists would collaborate with the Community Grants Officer and Executive Director to agree on fund criteria, whilst representing and championing the needs and interests of the community at meetings.
Having worked with say United In Hammersmith & Fulham on previous searches, the Head of Charity Practice, Sandy Hinks was confident that she and her team could find the individuals to represent the community.
Our Approach
The successful candidates would have demonstrable experience of leading an organisation through a strategic growth. Knowing that the board were interested in bringing inclusive, thoughtful, innovative, forward-thinking individuals into the organisation, Sandy Hinks, Head of Charity Practice, met with the candidates in great depth to understand their backgrounds and motivations to become panellists.
As part of our questioning, Sandy asked about the candidates experience of dealing with a range of external stakeholders including in local government, to navigate the challenges ahead and fulfil the charity’s ambitions.
It was important that the successful candidate could demonstrate a willingness to help generate funding from the corporate sector, trusts and foundations and philanthropists, and to build positive relationships with investors.
Sandy invested time in briefing the candidates to assess them against the search criteria before presenting a shortlist to the client. Candidates were screened to not only assess their interest in the role, but also to ensure that they understood the requirements and had the time to join the panel.
The Solution
After deliberation from the Board, the six panellists that were appointed to distribute the microgrants were:
The panellists are all pillars of the local community; together they have an incredible network and understanding of the local area. The team will go on to make independent decisions to allocate pots of funding which support community initiatives for the next 18-months.
Sandy Hinks, Head of Charity Practice commented:
‘This was a really interesting campaign for a growing, community-based organisation in West London. The time spent working with the client on previous roles alongside the discussions that we had for this campaign, which allowed the Executive Director and I to identify the right people in the area. The future looks bright for United in Hammersmith & Fulham, and their ambitious strategy could well be realised in the future.’
Savraj Kaur, Executive Director of United in Hammersmith & Fulham said:
‘We have worked with Moon on multiple occasions and chose to work with them again because of their consistently excellent results, deep understanding of our organisation’s ethics and values, as well as their communication and advice. We are grateful for Sandy’s hard work in presenting such a strong shortlist to the Board. We are confident that the panellists will help guide United in Hammersmith & Fulham into its next chapter of growth to help the communities of Hammersmith and Fulham.’
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