What We Do

Emergent Narrative
Emergent Narrative is a 7–8-month learning journey for philanthropists and funders, that supports ambitious and equitable grant-making through an anti-oppression and intersectional lens.

We accompany philanthropists and funders on an entirely bespoke journey around a cause of their choice: learning from and connecting with community innovators, frontline workers, social historians, and data and policy experts.

Rather than seek to go out and write a report on behalf of our clients, our model is to work closely with philanthropists and funders to develop a communal expertise. We take an educational approach through coaching and support to enable you to become experts in what you care about most. The work is intense, but the reward is transformational.

The programme is comprised of workshops, deep community insight, sector mapping, meetings with experts and curriculum development. It is tailored towards next generation high-net-worth families and established funders who are looking to invest capital into ambitious new ideas rather than following the crowd to safe ground.

Our job is to curate a journey for us to go on together as a team – attending meetings, reading reports, discussing opportunities, reflecting on challenges and coming up with ideas together. We help you become an expert in your field until you are ready to make bold investment decisions, de-risked through your own hard work and insight.

Based on interviews, visits and research, we work alongside you to write an Emergent Enquiry – a unique document that describes our mutual understanding of what’s happening in the space we are exploring, the problems that this presents, and the key game-changing ideas required to tackle them. This becomes the founding premise of an ambitious and equitable giving and grant making.

Our clients have an initial first year grants budget of £250k-£1m though some are notably larger.

Grant Givers’ Programme
There are relatively few opportunities for people working in grant giving to take a step back from their day jobs and spend time among peers thinking through new approaches, trends and challenges in this profession. The Grant Givers Programme helps participants step away from the everyday work of analysing applications or managing grantee relationships. It provides them with the motivation, time and energy to think critically and creatively about the best ways that philanthropy can be used to advance social change. The content of the programme challenges the status quo. It has been designed for people with an appetite for challenging their own thinking and who are working in the sector, sitting on boards of trusts and foundations and others involved in philanthropy.

The Grant Givers Programme is a 4-month (10 sessions) series of online workshops, inspirational speakers, peer learning and networking opportunities. By the end of the programme, participants leave with:

• A better understanding of how money can be used to support transformational change
• A support network of fellow professionals
• New skills and ideas to bring to their roles
• Inspiration on how to overcome challenges in grant giving
• Exposure to new ideas on funding management and grant giving strategies.

For a full overview of the programme, please see our Grant Givers Programme – 2021 Online Brochure.

For a full overview of previous and future speakers on our programme, please see our Grant Givers Programme Speakers.

We run the programme four times per year. Our September 2021 programmes, as with all of our previous 12 courses, have sold out. We are now taking bookings for January 2022. To enquire about whether the programme might work for you or for more information regarding booking, please contact Dean Harrison on dean@tenyearstime.com.

2027 Associates Programme
The grant-giving and wider funding sector is good at speaking about inequality, and the value of all people in bringing about social change.

But it has a diversity problem.

By 2027 we have an ambition to fix this.

Our 12-month salaried talent development programme works prepares brilliant professionals from working-class communities for decision-making roles in grant-making and impact investing organisations.

2027 is the result of a collaboration between five of the UK’s leading social change organisations: Centre for Knowledge Equity, Charityworks, Koreo, Northern Soul Consultancy and Ten Years’ Time.

Greater diversity at the top of funding organisations can help them make better decisions, while better representing the communities they purport to serve. We also believe that by bringing funders and working-class communities closer together, we can begin building a new funding model for a fairer society. These individuals will start a movement that fundamentally changes the skillset, approach and class makeup of senior teams at foundations and trusts whilst valuing all forms of knowledge needed to create social change in society.

Link to the 2027 website

Research & Advocacy
We conduct research in areas of gross under-investment to support funders to increase their knowledge and their giving in under-served areas. Our reports feature practical recommendations, and we provide follow-up support to senior leaders and trustees to implement the changes that are needed.

Climate Change & Social Change: how funders can act on both

The independence and financial freedom that foundations have presents an incredible opportunity for our sector to take a leadership role in tackling the climate crisis. The environmental emergency poses a threat to the communities we exist to serve – but addressing it can provide many co-benefits that will not only protect against future harm, but also improve lives in the here and now.

Throughout this report, you will hear stories of the disproportionate impacts of climate change on the most vulnerable. You will also hear from a number of Foundation CEOs on how and why they are responding to the climate emergency, as well as the linkages they see with their core work. This report is a must-read for any funder that wants to do more to address the climate emergency and wants to know where to start. It features practical ideas for how to use your grant giving, investments and convening power to address climate change today, even if it’s not your organisation’s core purpose.

If you’re a foundation looking to start or develop your journey on addressing climate change and would like to discuss your options, or if you have comments or queries about the report, we’d love to hear from you! Please send us a message using the form below and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

Missed Expertise: mapping experiences of first time trustees

Our research has shown that there is emerging good practice when it comes to diversifying chairs and trustees of boards. There is a rich mixture of quick wins and more long-term strategic changes that Trusts and foundations – and charities, more broadly – can make. In doing so, they can attract, retain and get the most from a wide range of people who would never previously have found themselves at board tables. New trustees from diverse backgrounds bring with them a wide variety of skills, knowledge and expertise that is often missed on boards. Much of this missed expertise stems from lived experiences of, and proximity to, the issues that a grant-giving organisation focuses on, and subsequently positions such individuals as having deep understandings into the realities of communities. The ability for trusts and foundation to really understand and relate to the communities that they exist to serve is often missing at board level. This is because the sector traditionally values working cultures and hiring practices that prioritise people from senior, highly professionalised, backgrounds.

This report focuses equally on both support that first-time trustees from diverse backgrounds often require, alongside changes that trusts, foundations and charities need to make in order to develop culturally more inclusive board environments. The report also seeks to shed light on the important role of chairs on boards, viewing them as fundamental to creating more inclusive board environments or in sustaining a culture that does not benefit first-time trustees from diverse backgrounds.

Trustee Coaching Programme

‘We believe that a broader spectrum of class experience at the top of foundations and trusts will lead to better decision-making, happier workforces and more meaningful relationships with the communities that foundations and trusts serve’ – 2027 Coalition.

The Trustee Coaching Programme is a 2-year bespoke programme that enables first-time trustees from diverse backgrounds to flourish in their roles. It was developed in direct response to the needs of first-time trustees and supports people to develop their knowledge, confidence and skills through a combination of individual coaching and peer learning sessions.

The programme sits within 2027’s wider work to diversify the voices present within trusts, foundations and charities, understanding that at governance level there exists an explicit diversity deficit.

For more information, and to sign up to this amazing programme, please contact Dean Harrison by emailing him at dean@tenyearstime.com.