PracticalActs.org

We are proud to participate as funders in Groundwork London’s Open Space Awards. As funders, we appreciate knowing that our donation supports so many different community groups transform their dreams into living, growing, lively spaces. Ben Cole and his brilliant Groundwork London team enable us to contribute to the grants programme beyond our donation, patiently teaching us about capacity-building and intricacies of London’s green landscape.  

We committed to 3 years of support to Open Space Awards, which was a different way of giving for us. We want to know that our financial decisions had a greater impact and challenge ourselves to multiply our impact beyond our means. Rather than making a one-off donation to one organisation, we give to a bigger pool of funds that is efficiently distributed to a broader audience that we track over a longer period of time. By participating fully in Groundwork London’s programme, we see our one action benefit so many more people and places. 

We invite you to join us on our giving journey with Open Space Awards whether you are an individual interested in helping local Londoners tackle environmental problems such as air pollution or a business looking for unique ways to support community action through green spaces. Donate today or contact Ben Coles to discuss your giving. And, tell us about your giving journey below!

“Climate change is such a wide, diverse problem to tackle that we didn’t know where to start, but we wanted to engage with solutions in tangible ways… Our Space Award is a rare funding opportunity for people, regardless of expertise, to improve their environment whatever that may mean to them. The diversity of ideas, size of organisations, locations, and skills represented in Open Space Award makes supporting the programme fun and inspiring as a funder to see the transformation of dreams into living, growing, lively spaces.”

Stuart & Stephanie Mills

About the Our Space Award

The Our Space Award (OSA) aims to help Londoners clean and green the city through active community engagement and participation, increasing a sense of community ownership over shared spaces. It supports Londoners of all ages and backgrounds, communities and schools in greening their neighbourhoods, making them inclusive places for all to enjoy. Our Space Awards:

• Create new, thriving green spaces and improve biodiversity across London
• Increase sense of ownership over local spaces
• Increase friendships and connections, reducing isolation and loneliness
• Counteract the harmful effects of air pollution
• Contribute to activities helping to mediate the impacts of climate change

What makes Our Space Award special?

• Specifically designed with grassroots community-led organisations in mind
• Enables local, unincorporated groups to take part
• Provides communities with the opportunity to reconnect and improve local spaces through active civic participation
• Offers regular people—unaffiliated with politics or charity sector—the opportunity to make a lasting difference to their local environment
• Independent programme separate from wider policies
• Freedom to award projects that may fall outside outside criteria of typical grant programmes
• Designed to make a lasting contribution to wider social and environmental objectives

About Groundwork London

Groundwork London is an environmental and community charity that works with communities across the capital to transform their lives and the places they live. They have been at the forefront of social and environmental regeneration in London for over 40 years, and today they have a simple mission: to create better places, improve people’s prospects, and promote greener living and working.

They are passionate about creating a future where every neighbourhood is vibrant and green, every community is strong and able to shape its own destiny, and no-one is held back by their background or circumstances. Annually, they deliver 500+ bespoke, resident-led programmes across London, working to create and improve green spaces for local people. As well as co-designing and constructing neighbourhood gardens, play parks, pocket parks and outdoor art projects, they provide opportunities for disadvantaged people through volunteering schemes and employment programmes.

In addition to delivering projects and services directly for communities in need across the capital, Groundwork London is also an industry-leading provider of grants management and administration services, with 20 years’ experience delivering over 45 diverse grant schemes including multiple repeat contracts for a range of public funders e.g. TfL, GLA, MOPAC and private funders e.g. Tesco, Thames Water, Tideway. In 2022, our grant programmes engaged over 1,000 VCSEs; distributing £12 million+ of grants.