Building on our work in Wales.

We are proud to partner with charities from across Wales, working to improve Wales by providing essential services and influencing change on complex issues such as homelessness, domestic abuse and more.  

As the Foundation’s Wales Policy and Partnerships Manager, I’m working to increase the influence of small charities in Wales to ensure that people with the lived and learned experience of complex issues can raise their voice and effect wider change. In a time of “poly-crisis” and increasing polarisation, we know that targeted, and longer-term, social investment and positive social partnerships will be key to building a better future in Wales. As a Foundation, we actively contribute to building a more resilient, more equal, more prosperous Wales.

Read our Wales strategy report, which outlines our support in Wales so far, and our specific focus areas during 2022 - 2026 and beyond. 

Working with our charity partners

We work in partnership with charities and other stakeholders to meaningfully collaborate, create social value and build a fairer society. Many of these charities have actively driven and shaped policy conversations on complex issues in Wales.

Most recently, for example, the work of domestic abuse charities we have funded, such as the North Wales Women’s Centre in Rhyl, has fed into the Equality and Social Justice Committee’s report on Women’s experiences in the criminal justice system.

Similarly, research supported by us and shared this year by the Bevan Foundation demonstrated a severe lack of affordable housing for low-income households. Sharing this work and driving urgent discussion with partners across Wales through the Cross-Party Group on Poverty, the Equalities and Social Justice Committee, and other spaces has contributed to further research being undertaken on the feasibility of a Welsh Benefits System.

Over the past five years, we have funded around 200 charities in Wales. Building on our unrestricted funding for frontline services and our work with partners in Carmarthen and in Merthyr to improve local systems, we are at the forefront of exciting developments in funder practice in Wales, and a key actor in local collaborations in often overlooked communities.

To shape our work in Wales, we listen to charities we partner with – what they tell us in conversations and through their monitoring reports, as well as engaging with wider stakeholders.

Besides influencing social policy and practice, what we learn from partnering with charities across the nation also informs decisions about what to prioritise in our upcoming funding programmes.

We also work with the Foundation’s Wales Advisory Group which brings together small charities and other experts from across the sector to provide valuable insight and expertise to help shape our work. The Wales Advisory Group helps us keep up to date with the funding, policy, and practice context in Wales. Advisors also act as a critical friend for our work in Wales. Our current advisory group brings together expertise and diverse perspectives including charities we partner with, national infrastructure organisations such as WCVA and WLGA, and the Welsh Government’s Third Sector Team.

Kate Jones, CEO Thrive Women’s Aid, describes how positive it has been to “have frank discussions about the impact of legislative changes and social issues on the third sector and our service users. This has been particularly positive given the differences between devolved and non-devolved services in Wales and we have been able to offer clear context about the differences for people who live and work here and the additional nuances for victims of domestic abuse.”

Opportunities in Wales

As a devolved nation, Wales presents particular challenges and opportunities to work within. There are significant challenges and inequalities in Wales, highlighted each year by regular barometers such as the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation, and research by Understanding Welsh Places. As part of our Building a Better Future strategy, we want to ensure we are responding effectively.

There are huge opportunities to increase recognition of the value of small charities and raise their voices, and we want to go further in helping them do that. For example, through strengthening relationships with people across the Senedd, Welsh Government and with the Office of the Future Generations Commissioner, we aim to further build on our Value of Small report which drew on case studies from Wrexham, to highlight the essential role that small charities play in achieving national level targets and ambitions.

Positive policy developments to build on include the Social Partnerships and Procurement Bill, the Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan, Welsh Government’s commitment to become a Nation of Sanctuary and others. Pioneering developments such as these and the uniquely Welsh piece of legislation the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act (2015) make Wales an exciting place to work and influence.

We want to increase our work with partners to overcome the challenges faced by too many small charities and the people they support. If you want to join us in raising the voice of small charities in Wales, we’d love to hear from you too.

You can contact Kelly to arrange a call via email khuxleyroberts@lloydsbankfoundation.org.uk