Today the Government launch Our Place to Give: a plan for growing place-based philanthropy. This sets out the first steps we will take towards achieving our vision of building ambitious and long-term partnerships with philanthropists and delivering tangible and lasting impact within our communities.
This Government are focused on delivering a decade of national renewal, and we cannot achieve this change alone. A partnership model that adequately recognises the potential of philanthropy to drive positive social impact across the breadth of the UK is essential to address some of our biggest challenges.
The UK has a proud history of philanthropy, which is an integral part of the glue that binds communities together. Whether it is the donation of wealth, time, or talent, giving back creates a sense of pride and belonging.
Change starts with partnership and Our Place to Give sets out how the Government will work with local government, civil society and philanthropists to address barriers and strengthen place-based philanthropy. We are focused on two key outcomes:
For places: helping local organisations and areas with the greatest funding needs better access philanthropic investment.
For philanthropists: encouraging more high net-worth individuals to give back to communities, by making it easier to work with Government and places on opportunities to maximise place-based funding.
This represents a fundamental shift and a genuinely new approach to working together and forms one part of the Government’s impact economy agenda. We will work to foster an environment of mutual respect and trust, ensuring philanthropic voices are brought into the early stages of policy design and implementation, utilising their expertise, insight and experience to tackle some of the most pressing and challenging societal issues across this country. This includes partnering on Government priorities, including the £5.8 billion Pride in Place programme and the £500 million better futures fund.
This Government want to empower philanthropists and communities to do more together. MPs are uniquely placed to champion local priorities and a toolkit has been developed to support with practical steps on how to engage with place-based philanthropy in their constituency.
The UK is one of the best countries in the world to conduct philanthropy, and we are committed to working with philanthropists and communities to drive sustained positive change across the country.
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