Nearly £600,000 of Activate grants to increase Fellows' impact

Themes

4 August 2022

Today we announce £590,688 of grants to 22 Churchill Fellows from our Activate Fund, which aims to increase the impact of Churchill Fellows’ activities across UK society.

Nina Champion (CF 2017) was awarded an Activate grant to launch a pilot project empowering people with lived experience of the criminal justice system to become advocates for change. Download 'Nina Champion'

Nina Champion - Elevating those with criminal justice experience — Nina Champion (CF 2017) was awarded an Activate grant to launch a pilot project empowering people with lived experience of the criminal justice system to become advocates for change. Download 'Nina Champion'

This year’s Activate projects and recipients are:

Grants Manager Katie Baldock commented: “The Activate Fund shows the breadth of issues that Churchill Fellows are tackling across the UK. In the final year of this pilot programme, we are thrilled to support Fellows whose projects address everything from the needs of young cancer survivors, to supporting migrant workers, to sustainable waste management. We look forward to following the outcomes of this important work”.

In this round of Activate Fund awards, 73% of grant recipients identified as women, 32% as coming from minoritised racial groups, 9% as disabled and 9% as LGBTQ+.

This is the third and final round of awards from the Fund, which is a three-year pilot project developed in consultation with Fellows. We are now taking a pause to assess the results of the pilot and to allow this year’s recipients to use their grants. Then we will have a clearer picture of how to take the Activate concept further, potentially from 2024.

In total the Fund has provided £1,211,235 in grants to 50 Fellows working on crucial issues facing UK society – from youth employment to dementia support and more. Stories of previous Activate recipients can be read here.