
On 21-25 June 2021, BD Giving organised its second ever Giving Week. We joined forces with local organisations to deliver free training, exciting talks, opportunities to participate, and shared some funding news. In this blog, we look back at what Giving Week achieved, what we have learned, and what we will take forward for next year.
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Our first goal for Giving Week was to showcase local initiatives and in this regard it exceeded our expectations. In total, 19 different events were put together by 17 individuals and partner organisations, from promoting local networks to family playgroup sessions, and skill-sharing workshops. With over 250 people taking part, Giving Week has undeniably shed light on some of the amazing talents and energy of the people of Barking and Dagenham and we are massively grateful to those organisers and participants to have joined us on this occasion.
- Our second goal for Giving Week was to help build capacity to participate in B&D’s local opportunities. While Giving Week demonstrated the breadth of what's on offer for individuals, voluntary and community groups, some of the workshops struggled to attract participants. One of the reasons for limited attendance is undoubtedly the short notice we gave partners to get involved in Giving Week. The feedback we received from them will help us review our approach to the organisation of next year’s edition, and start our promotion earlier.
"Giving Week is a wonderful opportunity to showcase the best of how we are developing and nurturing ways to come together as a community and make long term change in Barking and Dagenham"
Sam Sawhney, Community Coordinator - Model City London (Barking Sports 4 Change)
What We learned
Despite limited attendance to some events, this was largely compensated by additional intimacy with small VCS leaders who shared their experience of successes and struggles – sometimes quite emotionally – through the pandemic. Some of these conversations were difficult, and conveyed an ongoing sense of grievance and distrust, particularly between small and large organisations, as well as organisations that are perceived to or are closer to the levers of power, compared to community groups who actively deliver on the ground.
In a context where access to resources is becoming more competitive there is a feeling of a winners-take-all culture within the borough, that smaller groups are at best co-opted or more often just sidelined by larger organisations, and that funders do not value their work. This is a key challenge for funders, for the social infrastructure partnership (BD Giving, BD_Collective, BD CVS, and BEC), as well as for other large VCS organisations in the borough. This is a challenge that we ought to address if we are to succeed in our vision to build a strong and collaborative social sector in Barking and Dagenham.
Whilst it is a good thing to increase the opportunities to get involved, this needs to be done meaningfully and mindfully. The important conversations around addressing power imbalances in the borough that have sprung up over the last couple of years need to be followed by actions that genuinely transfer control to smaller groups. As a local funder we will continue to put a diverse range of people in the lead and to support them to decide how our money should be spent in the borough.

Overall we are really proud of what we have achieved for Giving Week 2021 and we believe this format has the potential to become an important event for the social sector in Barking and Dagenham. But to succeed we will need to work towards building a local system that creates the opportunities and the spaces for everyone to come together in a way that works for them and, more importantly, in a way that leads to concrete actions led by grassroots groups and for the benefit of our community.
More news

Give it a Go Fund is back!
We’re excited to launch the third round of Give it a Go Fund.
Just like before, we teamed up with a group of local residents to pick a theme for this round of funding.
The group chose: Mental Health and Wellbeing.

Thinking Big About Community Spaces in Barking and Dagenham
‘Spaces + Places’ is an ambitious new project bringing together local people to decide how to invest £1 million in community space in Barking and Dagenham.

Changes to our governance for 2025
We say goodbye and special thanks to our outgoing trustee, Jeremy Grint, and extend a warm welcome to three new trustees joining us this year.

Building Stronger Partnerships Between Civil Society and Public Bodies
Read our response to the Civil Society Covenant consultation.

BD Giving and The Boathouse Studios Shortlisted in Social Enterprise UK Awards 2024
Together with The Boathouse Studios, we reached the final six of the Social Enterprise UK Deal of the Year Award 2024 recognising our groundbreaking social investment partnership.

Give it a Go Fund: behind the decision-making process
We chose to make our decisions for the Give it a Go Fund in a slightly different way to before, so we wanted to share a bit about how we did this.