Collaborations
One of our key strategic aims is to deliver better impact for those living in poverty by collaborating with other organisations and co-producing with experts, including those with lived experience to continually evaluate, learn, and improve. Some examples of how we are doing this include:
Funding Partnerships
Community Futures Partnership Pilot
From January to July 2026, we are working in partnership with 10 preselected local organisations across Bristol, Gloucestershire, and Wiltshire & Swindon, to test whether by intersecting our organisation grant-making and individual grant-making, we can achieve better outcomes for people experiencing poverty or financial hardship.
Through the pilot we will be making an unrestricted grant to each organisation, as well as creating a ring-fenced hardship grants fund that those organisations can support their beneficiaries to apply to (providing they meet the eligibility criteria).
The pilot supports our Theory of Change which shows that we believe that a grant can enhance wellbeing and give people greater ability to participate in society, thereby helping to relieve the impact of living in poverty.
The RISE Programme
When someone survives an abusive relationship, it can be overwhelming to think about the future or make positive changes to your own behaviour.
The RISE programme, run by Fear Free in the South West, offers survivors of domestic abuse support with both coaching and financial support into education, training, or employment. Fear Free’s RISE coaches help individuals to create a personalised action plan that maps out they can reach their education or career goals. This might be applying for courses or gaining work experience in a sector they would like to work in, helping to polish up interview skills or support to find suitable childcare. Our grants of up to £1,000 have enabled survivors to re-enter the workforce, pursue training start up their own business.
The programme was launched in September 2024, with coaching delivered by Fear Free, and grants processed by the National Benevolent Charity and part-funded by the Albert Hunt Trust, with 45 grants issued so far, the programme is currently due to run until 2027.
Case Study
Joan was an internal referral to RISE after having liaised with other areas of the charity since early 2023, having been in an abusive relationship for many years. The break-up of this relationship and subsequent actions by her ex, meant that she was now living on benefits and struggling to make ends meet as she was managing mortgage repayments by herself with no child maintenance.
Previously Joan had worked as a Psychotherapist undertaking face to face counselling sessions but to better manage as a working single mum, wanted to explore the possibility of switching her work to being remote and working from home, performing counselling sessions online.
The challenge
Joan needed support with
- Technology – she had an old Chromebook, which was unreliable and entirely unsuitable to counselling clients remotely.
- Technology – her existing broadband connection at her home was very slow and not capable of sustaining online meetings, especially if video was required, which was a critical element of her planned new career.
- Training – She needed to learn how to transfer her face-to-face skills into her new environment i.e. how to counsel online.
- Comfort –she had no office set-up in her home, which would have made working long hours difficult.
The National Benevolent Charity paid £963, for a new laptop, capable of HD video meetings, an improved broadband package for 6 months to support the laptop, and a training course to allow Joan to learn the skills necessary to transfer her knowledge and expertise into the online environment and a professional office chair to allow her to undertake counselling sessions in comfort.
Joan commented:
“It made such a difference having been through a difficult set of experiences and as a single mum feeing l like all I am doing is staying strong for my children to finally receive support myself and it be meaningful practical support to get back on my feet and get back into work. Thank you for being there and providing the help I needed when I needed it.”
Joan now offers counselling to others on the RISE programme.
Home is Where the Harm is Campaign
Each year more than 75,000 people in the UK are at high and imminent risk of being murdered or seriously injured through domestic abuse.
Around two-thirds of individual applicants to the National Benevolent Charity have experienced domestic abuse. Therefore, in partnership with Crowdfunder, Lightning Reach and Cash Perks, we launched the Home is Where the Harm Is campaign with British Airways as a key sponsor – offering victims of domestic abuse fast access to cash grants via cash machines to help them rebuild their lives. As numbers of UK domestic abuse incidents typically spike during international football tournaments, we launched the campaign during the Euros in June 2024.
Between 2024 and 2025, 262 grants of £200 were made to people across the UK who had experienced domestic abuse. Most applicants were women in receipt of benefits, living in social housing with children; two-thirds lived in a house with a disabled person.
Case Study
Janes Story
“Two years ago, I fled domestic and controlling abuse from my partner who I was with for seven years with my two children. It was the hardest choice I’ve ever made as we moved from one city to another where we do not know anyone at all and have had to start all over again.
Starting again with two children has been very difficult, from providing them a safe room and bed to sleep in, to making sure they have suitable clothes, and everything is so expensive like shopping and gas and electric. I have done everything in my power to make sure me, and my kids are safe and out of danger. The grant took a little bit of pressure off and help me rebuild the life me and my children deserve.”
In 2025, ‘Home is Where the Harm is’ won the Association of Charitable Organisations (ACO)’s Commercial Collaboration of the Year Award.
“The National Benevolent Charity has built an innovative, multi-faceted partnership born from real need — a powerful example of collaboration creating greater impact.”
The Barzilai Foundation
The Barzilai Foundation supports individuals whose life has been derailed by challenges beyond their control. They aim to help people overcome those challenges and excel beyond. Through 2025 they supported us to make 80 grants to individuals in need across the UK, with essentials such as food and clothing, white goods and basic household items, and priority debts.
Case Study
Sarah was referred by Citizens Advice Hillingdon
Sarah is a widow and lives with her three adult children. She was previously living in temporary accommodation and in December of 2023, she was offered permanent, social housing accommodation, which was unfurnished.
She is in receipt of Universal Credit and Child Benefit, which meets her basic and essential needs only. She has a deficit budget after paying her priority bills and debts (totalling approx. £2000). She had no surplus income to purchase appliances.
Sarah was awarded £400 towards a fridge freezer.
Local funder networks
We are actively engaged in:
Bristol Funders Network – A group of local and national funders that come together every 6 weeks to share information and explore opportunities to collaborate. Chaired by The National Benevolent Charity with the secretariat provided by Quartet Community Foundation.
Wiltshire & Swindon Funders Network – is an informal group of funders that promotes positive working relationships locally, to connect funders and improve the impact of funding and initiatives that support the VCSE sector and local communities in Wiltshire and Swindon to thrive.
Gloucestershire Funders Network – is a collaboration between several charitable foundations and organisations who can provide funding for not-for-profit organisations in Gloucestershire. Organisations in Gloucestershire can apply to the Network for funding thereby reaching all of the Network members and reducing the need to make lots of separate applications. The Network is currently hosted by the Barnwood Trust until March 2026.
Other key partners
Association of Charitable Organisations (ACO) – is the membership body for charities that provide financial and wellbeing support to individuals. They encourage knowledge sharing collaboration, benchmarking opportunities and best practice across the Network.
The Association of Charitable Foundations (ACF) – is the leading membership association for foundations and independent grant-makers in the UK. They support foundations to aspire to and achieve excellent practices, advance diversity, equity and inclusion in the sector, sustain a landscape where foundations can thrive and strengthen connections across and beyond the sector. Their vision is diverse, vibrant and effective foundations, working together for social good.
Institute for Voluntary Action Research (IVAR) – works with charities, foundations and public agencies to strengthen communities across the UK through action research.
The National Benevolent Charity is one of over 140 UK Grantmakers that has made eight commitments to funding charities in an open and trusting way as part of IVAR’s Open and Trusting - for trusts and foundations and this has been hugely influential in shaping our Improving Lives Fund for organisations.
Strategy & Theory of Change
Click here to see our Strategy and Theory of Change 2026 to 2029
