The Phoenix Fund was launched in 2020 to put racial justice at the heart of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The fund was devised and led by Black and racially minoritised community group leaders from across England and established with the support of The National Lottery Community Fund and Global Fund for Children.

The Phoenix Way exists to drive transformational change at regional and national levels by adopting a racial equity and social justice lens and creating learning which impacts the wider funding ecosystem and Black and racially minoritised communities and community organisations.

The wider aims of The Phoenix Way are to:

• Raise awareness of the unique challenges facing Black and racially minoritised communities across the UK.
• Offer flexible grant funding to Black and racially minoritised grassroots groups across the UK and working in their communities by developing and delivering a number of collaborative grant funding rounds designed and led by Black and racially minoritised communities, over the next five years
• Strengthen regional Black and racially minoritised infrastructure support organisations by 2026
• Challenge the funding sector to review its grant-making processes and track record of providing funding for Black and racially minoritised communities and to become more transparent by sharing data on funding allocations.
• Encourage and support funders to work within a restorative justice model by transforming their systems so they are more able to respond to structural inequalities and develop a shared leadership
• Actively empower Black and racially minoritised communities to collaborate with funders in decisions relating to funding processes, priorities, and funding allocations
• Develop strategic and innovative solutions to address the needs faced by communities, and work with a range of stakeholders including national, regional and local government, voluntary, social enterprise and community sector leaders, corporations and community groups
• Commit to truly equitable grant giving across all strands of grants – from the smallest to the largest grants.

In 2023, The Phoenix Way will launch and begin disseminating targeted funding to Black and racially minoritised community-led groups impacted by the Cost of Living Crisis across England. The partners will establish a regional infrastructure support to deliver The Phoenix Way’s funding opportunities.

The first round is open to applications now. It is a £1m emergency grant funding round for Black and racially minoritised community organisations who may already have or will suffer disruption to their programmes due to current inflation and the Cost-of-Living Crisis.

Successful organisations will be working with young people or women and girls who are at risk.

The Phoenix Way will also award Regional Infrastructure Grants to the following 6 English regions: North West, North-East and Cumbria, South West, The Midlands, Yorkshire and Humber and London and South East.

The Phoenix Way’s future funding rounds, including multi-year funding, will open in the summer of 2023 and will also include organisations and groups located in Wales. To register your interest in future funding rounds, please click here.

Applications will be accepted until midnight on the 8th of May.

Eligibility criteria

The Phoenix Way 2023 – Round 1 Emergency Grants will support non-profit groups, organisations or charities that:

• Are led by representatives of Black and racially minoritised communities and work within Black and racially minoritised communities
• Work with participants and communities that are primarily 18 or under and are at high risk of becoming involved in violence
• Have annual operating budgets of up to £150,000 per year
• Are located and work in England
• Need additional financial support due to the Cost of Living Crisis.

Applicants can be registered, unregistered, incorporated, unincorporated, and/or unconstituted or newly formed groups.

Who we are looking to fund in this round:

• Organisations and groups that are Black and racially minoritised-led. In this round, we are only looking to fund groups where at least 70% of their leadership, volunteers and beneficiaries are from Black or racially minoritised communities
• Organisations and groups whose primary focus is working with Black and racially minoritised children and young people to prevent or reduce violence in their communities and lives
• Organisations and groups that take an asset-based approach to their work with children and young people.

This might include:

• Meeting young people where they are
• Using trust-based, relationship-driven ways of working
• Amplifying and partnering with children and young people to shape your organisation and the work you do
• Recognising and valuing the strengths and possibilities of the children and young people you work with

Organisations and groups that prioritise children and young people that are most impacted by systemic issues such as poverty, racism, gender-based violence and wider structural disadvantage. This might include children, young women/girls and young people who have experience of:

• The care or youth justice systems
• Abusing or misusing substances
• Abuse, maltreatment or neglect
• Negative educational experiences such as exclusion
• trauma

Organisations or groups that have been impacted by the cost-of-living crisis, including:

• Organisations/groups that are struggling to pay for increased core costs including rent, utilities, cost of living increases in salaries
• Organisations/groups that are struggling with increased costs of direct activities with children and young people at high risk of becoming involved in violence; OR
• Organisations/groups that have had to adapt or increase existing activities with children and young people, or create new activities to meet the needs of children and young people at high risk of becoming involved in violence due to the impact of the Cost of Living Crisis on their lives.

Grants given through this round can be used flexibly to cover core and/or project costs that the cost-of-living crisis has impacted. Grants made in this Phoenix Way round will be one-off payments of £20,000.

If you have any questions, please email: thephoenixway@globalfundforchildren.org or thephoenixway@ubele.org

APPLY NOW HERE

Image credit: © UNICEF/Karin Schermbrucke