For many councils giving grant funding to new community projects is an increasingly rare privilege. But what if we didn’t just award funding to the community, but handed over the role of funder too? Would this lead to better decisions, and could it also give important new skills and experience to residents from disadvantaged communities? This was the theory we wanted to test when we proposed a unique participatory grantmaking project in Barnet. 

Participatory grantmaking itself is not a new idea. Many councils have long recognised that insight from people with lived experience is a vital ingredient to their decision making and will often include members of the community on their funding panels. We wanted to go further with our project however and empower residents to design every aspect of the grant scheme itself. 

Since the launch of our Community Participation Strategy in 2022, Barnet Council has been working to empower residents and test innovative ways of involving communities in the work to improve their neighbourhoods. Nowhere was this more needed than the Grahame Park Estate in Colindale. A large social housing scheme in the northwest of the borough, Grahame Park has suffered years of deprivation and persistent challenges with crime and antisocial behaviour. Over the last two years, a groundbreaking initiative by the Metropolitan Police dramatically reduced the criminal activity in the estate. A new sense of safety and hope began to be felt in the community, and the ground was laid for Barnet Council and its partners to launch a programme of community-led projects aimed at building capacity and social capital. One of these is the Love Grahame Park Community Fund.

Throughout this work we have been fortunate to be supported by Cabinet members who believe in its potential to make positive change. In 2025-26 my team was able to allocate £25,000 of funding received from developers to set up a small grants scheme in Grahame Park. We took this opportunity to apply our community participation principles of codesign and coproduction to ensure every aspect of this scheme was created in partnership. Before forming our funding panel, we consulted widely with community leaders to guide our approach. An open recruitment drive was launched in January 2025, attracting 22 applicants. From these, we selected 11 panellists spanning a diverse range of ages, backgrounds and tenures. All are paid London Living Wage for their time and have been supported throughout the project by the council’s Community Participation team. 

While officers have provided guidance and support, all key decisions have remained firmly in residents’ hands. The panel decided the grant’s three main funding criteria: health and wellbeing, economic inclusion and community cohesion. They also made it a requirement that applicants must have genuine local ties, and told us that they wanted to see individuals funded as well as organisations – something the council had not previously done. 

The fund launched in May 2025, attracting 28 applications totalling over £120,000. After careful assessment over two moderation sessions, the panel awarded funding to nine projects, with a strong emphasis on youth. Initiatives included football and mentoring for at-risk young people, and careers events tailored for young black residents. Two individual residents also won funding for arts workshops and gardening sessions. 

To date, all funded projects are in delivery, driving real, positive change for Grahame Park. Each panel member now actively oversees one of the projects, building relationships with organisations and seeing the benefits firsthand. With the council’s ongoing support and guidance, panel members are now developing skills in evaluation and reporting. 

While data from the projects’ delivery is only just beginning to come through, the outcomes experienced by the panel members have already been profound. Every single panellist has reported a significant increase in their social networks and a greater understanding of local opportunities and activities. Crucially, 88% feel empowered by their involvement—recognising their direct role in driving positive change and expressing a renewed sense of trust in Barnet Council. 

For my part, I have learned a lot about the power of putting the community in charge. Despite their lack of experience, every panel member has always been totally professional and committed to their task. As the project has unfolded they have begun to take more of a lead in the project, and our eventual aim is to hand the scheme over completely. This way we hope to create a self-sufficient ecosystem for the local voluntary sector – a model we can take to other areas of the borough. 

The signs so far suggest that our theory was correct. When you hand over the role of funder to the community, everybody benefits! 

This blog is written by William Cooper, Deputy Head of Strategy and Engagement at Barnet Council.