Communities Can was a 2-year pilot to test how best to provide organisational development support for small community groups, set out to demonstrate how they can be supported, and what they can achieve as a result. The Big Lottery Fund and the Young Foundation partnered with Barking and Dagenham CVS, Blackpool and Fylde CVS, Peterborough CVS, Voluntary and Community Action Sunderland and Torbay Community Development Trust to deliver the pilot. This evaluation was carried out by New Philanthropy Capital (NPC).
Opening for applications in July 2015, Communities Can matched 355 small and diverse groups to a range of experienced providers, who provided a wide range of development packages. These included business planning, fundraising governance, understanding organisational needs and measuring impact.
Groups receiving development support included Blackpool Buddies, providing peer support to people with mental health problems and Milan, which brings together women over 50 from the Indian diaspora who were expelled from Uganda by Idi Amin for social activities, friendship and self-help.
The report shares key learnings about capacity building small community organisations.
Posted on: 22 March 2017