Trusts and foundations

For over 60 years, we’ve been fighting to reduce inequalities that prevent children from achieving their full potential. 

We achieve sustained impact for children and families across the country, by developing ground-breaking programmes that create evidence on how best to support young people. We then use what we learn from this to drive policy change at a national and local level.  

Trusts and foundations choose to work with us because we are the leading convening power within the children’s sector and can achieve system-level outcomes. Recent examples of what we’ve achieved include: 

• Youth-led policy-making and campaigning 

In 2019, the John Ellerman Foundation supported us to strategically enhance and expand our youth engagement work. Their three-year grant enabled more than 2,500 children to deliver our mission – helping to craft and deliver major public campaigns that speak truth to power and shape legislative change in Parliament.

For example, the successful campaign to put children at the heart of the Health and Care Act 2022. You can learn more about how we involve children and young people here. 

• Pioneering place-based local systems change within early years in Lambeth 

Through our 10-year partnership with The National Lottery Community Fund, we are delivering the Lambeth Early Action Partnership, a holistic programme of over 20 early years services across four wards in Lambeth, London. We are giving thousands of babies and children aged 0-3 years a better start in life by delivering services to improve children’s development outcomes.

So far, our services have reached over 14,200 children and families and 5,038 people have attended our community engagement activities. NCB also hold the roles of National Learning Partner and Policy Development Partner for the wider A Better Start Programme working in five communities across England. 

• Unlocking millions of pounds for bereaved children and their families. 

Through a long-standing relationship with the True Colours Trust, the Childhood Bereavement Network have made a significant step-change in the support and provision for grieving children and families through its campaigning and workforce development programme.

In 2023, after a 10-year long campaign, we secured a once-in-a-generation policy win which unlocked £440m for 21,000 families who were previously denied support where parents weren’t married (or in a civil partnership). Now around 1,800 more grieving families will be able to access support each year. 

• Assessing the impact of health and social care assessments 

In 2020, Wellcome Trust awarded a major five-year grant to NCB in partnership with University of Cambridge and University of Kent for Living Assessments, a programme investigating the experiences of children in need, aged 11-25, who are navigating social and healthcare services.

Lived experience is at the heart of the project and our three Experts-by-Experience groups have played a central role advocating for urgent reforms to social care in Parliament. This has included a platform at the NCB-hosted All-Party Parliamentary Group for Children with Claire Coutinho MP, Minister for Children. 

• Evaluating the effectiveness of support to care leavers with insecure immigration status 

In 2018, Paul Hamlyn Foundation commissioned NCB to evaluate flagship projects that aimed to improve the wellbeing of children looked after and care leavers with unresolved immigration status. We uncovered the key challenges common to delivering these services and evaluated their impact on young people, policy and practice.

Our analyses culminated in our report ‘Supporting care leavers with insecure immigration status’ that gave targeted recommendations for local authorities, charities and funders.  

Get in touch 

Please contact us if you’re interested in finding out more, at [email protected].

We look forward to hearing from you!