Community Endowment Fund

The money comes from something called the Neighbourhood Community Infrastructure Levy, a fee paid by developers of new building projects in an area, which is collected by Barking and Dagenham Council on behalf of the community.

Part of those fees fund the Neighbourhood Fund, which community groups can apply to with grants worth up to £10,000.

The endowment, which is entrusted to BD Giving, will complement this investment in the community with a mechanism that will create a lasting legacy for the borough.

Because an endowment is an investment, rather than a grant, it’s not going to generate immediate returns and the returns will be modest initially. However, over the next ten years, the borough will continue to see considerable growth in the form of new developments and infrastructure.

BD Giving will build on this opportunity by using the endowment to encourage additional donations and investments that will top up the fund before the programmed development in the borough slows down in the 2040s.

This is why it is so important that we agree on strong foundations for this mechanism, to ensure it can act as a new form of collective empowerment for our social sector.