A further £1 million in new funding to support legal action for social change

At the end of 2024, the Baring Foundation was delighted to award over £1 million in nine new grants through its Strengthening Civil Society programme which supports organisations to use legal action to address discrimination and disadvantage.

The Strengthening Civil Society (SCS) programme is approaching its 10^th anniversary and has had a strong focus on the support and development of legally expert ‘hub’ organisations who work together with non-legal civil society organisations to use the law to bring about long-term positive social change.

The nine new organisations are:

Birthrights – to scale work supporting relevant CSOs to understand and use the law to advocate for the rights of women and birthing people.

Campaign for Freedom of Information – for work promoting the effective use of the Freedom of Information Act by civil society organisations.

Care Rights Project – to support CSOs to use the Care Act 2014 to realise rights for people with no recourse to public funds.

Committee on the Administration of Justice (NI) – towards the costs of running the Equality Coalition, an alliance of civil society organisations based in Northern Ireland using the law to bring about social change.

Foxglove – for the work of a new organisation, the Watchdog, to develop a legal hub to support CSOs to use freedom of information laws with a focus on appealing public bodies’ refusals to comply

Just Fair – to scale work supporting civil society organisations in South West England to use everyday rights to tackle racial injustice and achieve social change.

Project 17 – to support CSOs to use the law to tackle homelessness and poverty among families with no recourse to public funds.

Unity Project – to train and mentor CSOs to use legal mechanisms which allows people in crisis to apply for public funds (which they previously had no recourse to).

Work Rights Centre – to build the capacity of grassroots organisations to use legal tools to challenge the exploitation of migrant workers.

Since 2015, the SCS programme has given over £13.4 million and over 220 grants. This year, we commissioned independent evaluators to review the programme’s impact and inform its future direction. Keep an eye out for the findings later in the year.

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