Access to Justice

We understand that organisations need flexible, longer-term funding that is adaptable and responsive to the realities of their work. This enables them to meet the evolving advice needs of Londoners, strengthen their capacity, engage in social action and drive systems change.

Our grants can be used flexibly over the grant period. Organisations will need to demonstrate how they will use flexible funding to support their core costs and long-term strategic objectives, and how they will develop their social action work to bring about systems change. 

These costs may include:

• Core costs, such as staff salaries, wellbeing, overheads, and infrastructure.
• Programme activity, including direct advice provision and using insights from advice work to catalyse social action and systems change.
• Organisational development, such as time to reflect, learn, and adapt.
• Collaboration and movement-building, including connecting with other organisations, sharing insights, and building collective power.
• Community organising, advocacy and campaigning, drawing on frontline experience to influence policy and practice.
• Data and storytelling, to capture impact and amplify the voices of those affected.

As long as their work aligns with the programme’s purpose, grants can be used in whatever ways make the most sense within the organisation. We expect the work we fund to evolve, particularly within the 3- or 5‑year period. We’re comfortable with uncertainty, and we’ll be flexible along the way. We aim to continually support organisations in meeting the needs of their communities.

Our definition requires 75% of the Board of Trustees or Management Committee, and at least 50% of senior staff, to self-identify as being from the specific marginalised community or protected characteristic that the organisation serves. 

Alongside this threshold, we expect organisations to tell us about their accountability to the communities they work alongside and/​or represent. Specifically, how their work responds to the needs and lives of the people they aim to support, and how these people contribute to decision-making. We are open to applications from organisations who may fall just outside the 75% and 50% thresholds, as long as they can demonstrate strong community accountability and representation within their work.

There is some flexibility around this requirement, particularly if an organisation can demonstrate a strong commitment to progressing towards this level of representation over time. Or where contextual factors – such as the size, location, or stage of development of the organisation – make meeting the threshold challenging in the short term. 

Organisations should demonstrate their accountability to the community they serve – for example, through inclusive governance structures, participatory decision-making processes, or other mechanisms that ensure lived experience informs leadership and strategy. 

Social action is often the route to systems change. For example, advocacy, campaigning, and community organising (social action) can lead to policy reform or narrative shifts (systems change). Systems change focuses on how systems operate, while social action empowers those affected to organise and mobilise to change the system. Social action may also involve gathering evidence, conducting research, and engaging in strategic litigation.

Systems change is about transforming the structures, processes, and mental models that sustain inequality. It goes deeper than addressing symptoms – it aims to shift how systems function at their core. We use the iceberg model to illustrate this:

• Events (i.e., someone being denied benefits)
• Patterns (i.e., repeated denials for certain conditions)
• Structures (i.e., flawed assessment processes)
• Mental models (i.e., societal beliefs about disability or poverty)

In practice, systems change can involve redesigning policies, rules, and services; shifting narratives and public mindsets; building collective power and collaboration; and supporting long-term, structural transformation.

Sistren Legal Collective and Community Organisers provide definitions of social action and systems change in our downloadable Funding Guidelines.