Our funding

The Tudor Trust works in partnership with organisations that share our vision of a just world where racial justice is strategic and shifting power is central. We do this through our grant-making, by working in ways that are deeply relational, walking alongside those we fund.

Our grant-making approach

Our approach is rooted in:

• Learning-led decision-making grounded in building an ecosystem of partners aligned with our mission;
• Systems thinking that enables us to adapt our funding in line with what we are learning;
• Commitment to equity and power sharing, recognising and addressing the inherent power dynamics between funder and grant holder;
• Deep relationships, with an emphasis on long-term partnerships that foster trust and a shared ambition for change.

Our grant-making is designed to reduce the burden of lengthy application processes so that those in the field can stayed focused on the work and their leadership.

We therefore use a learning-led approach to invite organisations to apply. Potential grant partners are identified through our relationships with our existing partners and by mapping the ecosystem in which they operate. In this way, we believe that being led by learning has the potential to shift the inherent power imbalance between funders and those seeking funds. It also enables us to let go of pre-determined assumptions about what works and to centre the ambitions of our communities and what they want to achieve.

The stages within our grant-making process

When we start our grant-making, we follow five distinct stages in which we always apply the lenses of being clear about our purpose, our due diligence, and how decisions will be made.

Connect: this is where we research individual organisations, gathering basic information about their legal status and their mission and vision. We want to understand what we can learn from individual organisations and how they align with our Change We Seek guidance.

Understand: this is where we build up a picture of how different organisations fit together, what we can strategically learn from them collectively, as well as researching more detailed governance information based on public records. In this stage, we will talk to many organisations.

Commit: this is when we commit to making a grant, and now need to understand more about what resources are needed. When we speak to organisations in this stage, we will be very transparent that we are committed to making a grant unless a good reason becomes clear as to why this may not be possible.

Agreement: following a series of conversations – which replace a traditional application process – we develop a grant agreement which then forms the basis on which we will work with those we fund.

Partner: this is our ongoing relationship which each of our grant partners. Every organisation we fund will have at least two named contacts at Tudor, but space is also created for conversations and relationships to be built, including with the senior leadership team, and where appropriate, trustees. 

How we decide what to fund

Our initial research is based on understanding how projects and community action could work together in complementary ways for collective innovation and deeper change. This moves us away from isolated interventions to building practices that are sustainable in their impact. We call this eco-system building. As we build a network of organisations who are together stronger in their collective voice and actions, we will also be more transparent in sharing what is changing.

Who makes the decisions

Grant decision-making is in the hands of our programme team as a collective. Key to this is our ability to hold each other to account. Our behaviours framework and the Change We Seek guide them in how they build networks, understand the field, and apply a deep commitment to learning. We have developed process and meeting structures that centre healthy challenge and accountability to each other and to being in service to our communities. 

How we research organisations

Our approach is deeply relational. We begin by listening to the partners we are already working with under our new strategy, understanding what is important in their networks, and build out from this starting point.

We are regularly contacted by organisations who want to share their work with us. We are always interested in learning, but we are also very transparent that there is no shortcut to influencing our approach to grant-making and how we will decide. We acknowledge that this is problematic, as there is always a thin line between being deeply interested in the work, and making a decision to fund.

Unless we explicitly tell an organisation that we are considering funding, when we are in conversation, our primary purpose for engagement is to gather knowledge and share learning. 

Looking ahead in our grant-making

Our commitment is to build a grant‑making portfolio that reflects a more hopeful future - one where communities hold power, wealth and dignity. As we grow this portfolio, we will share who we are resourcing and how their work is building community power for systemic change.

Staying in touch

We believe in the power of conversation as strategy. Building connections and forming new alliances is part of what makes us stronger. At Tudor, we are passionate about the work that is happening in the field. We all come with our own lived and professional experience and listening to the stories and the experiences of others deepens our understanding of systemic change. This is why we attend events, meetings and conferences. If you see us, please do talk to us.

You are also very welcome to email us. We do read everything, but we cannot respond meaningfully to speculative requests for funding as this is not our model of operation. We are developing a set of FAQs to help with this.

In the current system, we know that individual organisations are experiencing significant challenges in securing funding. This is a hard reality that motivates us to tackle root causes. It is also why it's important we emphasise, that unless we explicitly say that we are in conversation about funding, our engagement reflects our strategic commitment to building networks. Whilst a difficult message to land, it is important that we are honest.