2013
The Social Change Agency founded
The Social Change Agency started in 2013, when CEO Esther Foreman had a desire to combine organising, technology, communications and social enterprise to improve movement building across the world. The vision was to support change from its roots, with those it impacts at its heart.
2019
We started building our Fiscal Hosting service
After undertaking some research commissioned by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and producing the Choose Love report, we had a lightbulb moment and started building our Fiscal Hosting service in partnership with Open Collective. This meant we could provide unincorporated groups with a secure and transparent money management platform.
Being a Fiscal Host isn’t easy, and we put all of our energy, hard work and tears into tackling the risks and barriers put in front of us to create a service that would make a tangible change in civil society. This was the spark that set the ball rolling for the creation of The Social Change Nest and all of the ‘shadow infrastructure’ we could create to help groups in the background.
2020
The Social Change Nest was formally registered
The Social Change Nest CIC was formally registered in May in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, helping community groups sustain the much-needed frontline responses they had selflessly put in place by becoming their Fiscal Host. We built out and strengthened the infrastructure needed for these movements to respond to the evolving situation, allowing their work to continue without the use of personal bank accounts, transparently showing where funding and donations were being spent.
By May, we had already received £1M for those hosted on Open Collective, and by June we were hosting 100 different groups.
2020 was also the year that we partnered with BUD Leaders (a Black female- led social enterprise creating a movement to redress inequity for Global Majority women in business) to launch the Community Leaders in Motion programme (CLiM). The programme provided practical support, funding and training to community groups across Lambeth and Southwark, and we still think it’s one of the best things we’ve ever done.
By May, we had already received £1M for those hosted on Open Collective, and by June we were hosting 100 different groups.
2021
Moved over £1m in grants to those at the frontline of social change
Within a year of launching The Social Change Nest, we were supporting over 200 grassroots groups. Funders saw the impact these groups were having, and we developed our Grant Management and Grant Distribution offerings to enable foundations to grant directly to community groups that would never have gained access to funding before. By June, we had moved over £1M in grants to those on the frontline of social change.
We also formed our partnership with the Urban Movement Innovation Fund by collaborating on its Youth Climate Funding project, successfully and efficiently distributing grants internationally, leading us to the flourishing partnership we have with UMI Fund today.
2022
Launched First Fund for Mutual Aid groups
The Social Change Nest was recognised as one of the Top 100 Social Enterprises in the UK, and we hosted our inaugural Risky Business event, bridging the gap between funders and grassroots groups by exploring risk in funding.
In partnership with Changing Ideas, we also started the UK's First Fund for Mutual Aid groups to help them transition as they emerged out of the pandemic. We gave 22 groups across the UK grants worth over £90,000. It helped groups like Trans Aid Cymru upgrade their tech programmes, allowed Hastings Heart to train volunteers and much more.
By August, we had received £5M in grants and donations on Open Collective for our groups.
2023
Launched the Access to Justice Fund
We launched the Access to Justice fund in partnership with Disrupt. The fund addressed a gap in the non-profit sector caused by challenges to civil liberties and increased political attacks against historically marginalised groups. We granted to 4 groups, allowing them funds for training, access to legal reviews, expenses for traveling to court cases and production of resources and materials.
We also celebrated 10 years of The Social Change ‘group’, hosted our first workshop at London Funders, and hit a milestone of £10M in grant agreements being signed.
2024
Launched the Payment for Involvement Playbook
CLiM helped us learn a lot, and one of the things we took away from the programme was a need for a leadership structure that wasn’t reinforced from the top down. We launched the collaborative leadership canvas to help others see what it really means to build community leadership and to distribute power and responsibility.
The Social Change Nest and Collaborate CIC took over the facilitation of Losing Control in Funding. The network is a collaborative space for grantmakers interested in learning and acting together to shift power in funding. We also started working with Our Agency to support them in managing a wealth redistribution project, granting almost £1M of funding from LankellyChase Foundation directly to people with lived experience.
We also launched our first Payment for Involvement playbook, secured a multiyear grant from City Bridge Trust for The Community Nest, and our 500th group joined Open Collective.
2025
Supporting a network of over 600 groups
We are now a team of 25 employees, supporting over 600 groups. We’ve built a network that we are hugely proud to support, including movements such as Uplift, Fossil Free London, Decolonising Economics, Climate Centre and more. Already this year we’ve launched our ‘How to talk to your board about Risk’ guide and our Payment For Involvement Job Centre toolkit.
The last 5 years have been a wild ride, and the context and polycrisis we are in right now may be tougher than ever, but we can’t wait to see what the next 5 years bring and the resilience our network shows.
