5 Years of Barking and Dagenham Giving: Community-led Decision-making sees over £1m distributed locally

Yesterday, BD Giving marked five years of being a participatory grantmaker, while also celebrating passing the £1m mark in grant distribution.

Over the summer of 2020, we ran our first ever participatory grantmaking process  – the Rapid Response Fund – which saw 50 local people decide how to distribute £100,000 during lockdown. 

At the time, the charity was known as Barking and Dagenham Renew but we changed our name to align with the wider London’s Giving movement and mark a new era as a participatory grantmaker. 

Five years later and we are incredibly proud of how far we have come and what we have achieved.

In that time, we have worked alongside hundreds of residents, helping ensure that the causes which matter most to them get the support they deserve.

To deliver on this, we have been able to grow our team from two members of staff to a dozen thanks to the support of many funders and organisations.

This has massively increased our ability to include everyone in our work and we are excited to see what 2030 will look like for the borough.

It’s not just about numbers. It’s about how trust, care and local knowledge are changing how decisions are made in Barking and Dagenham. I’m proud of what we’ve achieved and excited for what comes next.

— Géraud de Ville de Goyet, CEO

You can see a full picture of our impact on our new dashboard, which was itself co-designed by residents.

Throughout this week, we will be sharing key moments and milestones across our social media, so please follow along.

Let us know what #5YearsOfBDGiving has meant to you by using the hashtag or clicking through to the form below.