Good place-based giving starts with communities, not systems
There is something genuinely hopeful about seeing local giving discussed at a national level. When government, donors and local organisations are in the same conversation, good things can happen.
At its best, place-based giving is about generosity, trust and shared responsibility, and the government’s recent Our place to give plan signals an intent to make more of it.
But national attention and local reality do not always travel well together. And from where we sit, working with communities across County Durham and Tees Valley every day, there are some important factors we will continue to raise in the face of national reports and initiatives like this.
Communities are not asking for growth. They are asking for the basics.
Right now, across County Durham and Tees Valley, families are making impossible choices, all while services and community organisations are stretched.
What communities need most is not a better system for channelling investment. It is food, warmth, safety and stability, and the funding that reaches them needs to be useful, flexible and fast.
"The funding has enabled us to respond quickly to local need and provide practical support to families at a critical time. We value the opportunity to work in partnership and welcome continued engagement to help strengthen outcomes for our community."
Our place to give, talks about unlocking investment, building partnership models and driving systemic change. Those things do have value. But there is a risk that in the building of these systems, in the strategic thinking and planning, we lose sight of the people those systems exist to serve.
Giving should complement public services, not replace them
The plan is clear that giving should play a complementary role to public funding, not act as a substitute. We think that is right. Giving should not become a market to be expanded. It is a response to need.
But the lines can blur quickly, especially when public services are under pressure.
If we rely on generosity to fill gaps that should never have existed in the first place, we normalise those gaps. We start to treat essentials as optional, depending on who gives rather than what people are entitled to.
Clarity of role matters. So does the kind of funding that reaches communities. Flexible, unrestricted grants allow organisations to respond to what they actually see on the ground — covering core costs, adapting to changing need, keeping services running. Project-specific funding, however well-intentioned, rarely does that.
The one question that must sit at the centre of this conversation: is the money that reaches communities useful to them, or useful to the story being told about it?
Who decides, and whose priorities count?
When someone brings money to the table, they naturally get listened to. That’s not a problem in itself. Donors should be involved in conversations about the places and causes they care about. But in place-based giving, the people with the most money should not end up having the most power to decide what a community needs.
When strategies focus primarily on high-net-worth individuals, donor networks and institutional partnerships, there is a risk that communities become the subject of the conversation rather than active participants in it. Whose voices shape decisions? Who defines the priorities? Who decides what a real difference looks like? And who is missing from the room?
Growing giving without addressing these questions risks reinforcing some of the inequalities it is trying to tackle. Any approach that brings government, wealth holders, local institutions and community organisations together needs to make sure decisions are transparent, independent and include those community voices.
"Point North understands the community and the need to balance 'doing for' with 'doing by.'"
What this means in practice
We believe in the power of generosity. We see it every day in people who give because they care about where they come from and the villages they grew up in, who want to create opportunities, and who believe communities deserve better.
Our role is to connect that generosity with local need, using local knowledge, relationships and careful grant-making to help funding reach the organisations already doing the work. That means listening first. Sharing power, not concentrating it. Funding what communities say they need, not what is easiest to report on.
‘Our place to give’ is a necessary starting point. But the measure of its success will not be how much giving it unlocks. It will be whether more useful, flexible funding reaches the people and organisations who need it most, and in ways that reflect local reality rather than national frameworks.
Because communities are not waiting for the launch of a government strategy. They’re waiting for immediate relief.
Get in touch
If you’re would like to explore place-based giving options, please get in touch with Jane or Sarah using the email addresses below, or call us on 0191 378 6340.
Giving in
Tees Valley?
If you’re based or headquartered in Tees Valley, get in touch with our Relationship Manager, Jane Reynolds MBE
Giving in County Durham
or beyond?
If you’re based or headquartered in County Durham, or the wider North East and beyond, get in touch with our Relationship Manager, Sarah Cairns
