Grant Distribution – The Social Change Nest

Need a quicker, simpler way to get funds out to grassroots groups?

With our grant distribution service, you can hand your time-consuming financial processes and admin over to us.

We can help you:

Get funds to grassroots groups, individuals or projects that don’t have bank accounts or other structures you might typically need them to have
Find grassroots projects and groups to support
Deliver and/or design a grantmaking process that’s suitable for grassroots groups and relieves their admin burden

Our fee

From 6% on all funds distributed (fees may be higher if extra support is needed or the programme is international). All fees include VAT.

In their words

“The Social Change Nest have been a key partner on our journey to funding young people directly. Their fiscal hosting through Open Collective has been a great asset to our work funding non-constituted groups of young changemakers. The ability to take the admin burden off the collectives, paired with transparency of cashflow allows us to keep financial reporting to a minimum and allow the young people we work with to focus their time and energy on their social justice work.”

“We began using The Social Change Nest's service because it has transparency and collaborative decision-making at its heart. It is now a central part of our journey to encourage grassroots action in Plymouth. We think there’s a value in holding this type of function independent; it saves time and we can be confident in following best practice.”

“SCN’s values have helped inform our own approach. The facility to move microgrants has transformed a whole section of our programme and given us a new tool in the toolbox and for our own donors. Our partnership has been collaborative and solutions focused. The team is great, flexible and always proactive to find ways to get support to movements.”

Standard grant distribution

For a 6% fee, we’ll take care of:

Extra Support

Need more support? We can also help you with your programme design, contracting, reporting and more.

Get in touch

Our difference

Over £16m in total channelled to grassroots groups through SCN

87% of groups* said SCN has given them more peace of mind about their group’s finances

100% of funders* said SCN has enabled them to consider unincorporated, grassroots groups as potential grantees

80% of funders* said working with SCN has encouraged them to make deeper shifts to their funding policies or models

*Responding to our 2021 annual survey – read our full Impact Report here

Relevant FAQs

What’s the process?

On average, our Grant Distribution service takes around 3–4 weeks to set up. Get in touch to explore your needs and see how we can support you.

What is Open Collective?

Open Collective is a platform that allows you to collaboratively and transparently manage your funds. As a fiscal host, we license Open Collective and work together to hold funds on behalf of grassroots groups in a way that allows them to make all the decisions.

Do we have to use Open Collective?

We strongly recommend using the Open Collective platform. It’s the quickest and easiest way to get money to grantees. We can distribute grants outside of the platform, but this may mean additional costs due to the extra admin involved.

If we use Open Collective, can our grantees use their accounts beyond our specific grant?

In most cases, yes. If your grantees have created their own Open Collective account to receive your grant, they can keep using their account to receive and manage other funds. All funds received through the platform are automatically charged a 5% fee to cover admin costs.

Can you grant to people outside of the UK?

Yes, we can. The set-up is different, though, so we’d need to talk you through the process first. Get in touch to find out how it works.

Hassle-free grant distribution services