March 2024
Diana Clarke
Following approval of our evolved strategy (more on this soon) it was time for the team to focus on “getting money out of the door”. In October 2023 we tasked ourselves to award £1m in grants to changemakers by the end of the year, iterating our processes as we go.
Thirty Percy have been supporting changemakers since its inception, it was, however, seen as more of a side hustle that happened alongside our main funding of organisations. In a very ad hoc way, we’ve supported 28 individuals during our first few years of grant making. The strategy puts changemakers front and centre, allowing us to take our support to the next level. To invest in individual leaders at different stages of their lifecycle and in ways that centre time, space, and care.
To navigate this challenge, we decided to adopt the ‘sprint method’, a practice mainly used by project managers in the corporate/tech and product development world, to see how we could make the principles of the practice work in the world of grant-giving.
Knowing that we wouldn’t be able to facilitate this sprint ourselves we sought out the support and guidance of **Camilla “Good Enough” Gordon.** Who, armed with her Lego, wit, and no-nonsense attitude, dropped into our lives to organise and energise us to meet the challenge head on and use creative thinking practices to help us streamline and refine our grant making process.
Camilla made sure the bigger, existential questions were captured but didn’t allow them to fully consume our attention, well certain people’s attention (you know who you are), and turn the sprint into a marathon.
Photo credit: Simon Tupper
To be honest with the number of existential questions capture during the sprint it could’ve easily turned into a series of back-to-back marathons – 15,248 miles later, hello Forrest Gump!
So, what happened over the six weeks?
Focus: How do we want to work together? What does the current changemaker grant process look like? What questions do we have about each stage of the process and what needs to change/be updated?
Focus: Reviewed previously recommended individuals. Process for assessing recommendations was iterated. How do we widen the pool of individuals recommended to us? Draft FAQs
Focus: Reviewed the first two weeks – tasks and process. Due diligence (aka Due Dili) – the good, the bad and the ugly. Reached out to our existing changemakers for additional recommendations. Contacted recommended changemakers. Scheduled initial chats. First few initial chats take place.
Focus: Completed initial chats, write ups and summaries. Mapped out barriers to “getting money out the door”. Reviewed finance verification process. Session with lawyer to discuss the legals. Review of grant making policy.