Context
Over the past five years, our work to support young changemakers has grown at a remarkable pace. When we launched our 2022–26 strategy, it was a new — and intentional — step forward in investing in young people as powerful forces for change.
Building on the success of the original Challenge and Change pilot, during our current strategy period, we have expanded our funding and support to young changemakers rapidly – driven by the needs, ambitions and lived experience of the young people we work alongside. As this work developed, we knew it was time to pause, reflect and deepen our understanding. How do young changemakers grow? What do they need at different points in their journey? And how can we ensure our programmes, language and support evolve with them?
Introduction
To help answer these questions, in mid-2024 we commissioned the Pipelines and Pathways Research Project, a participatory research project to better understand young changemakers’ journeys and support needs. The research team delivered their final report in late October 2024, and over the past year, we have been working through its rich findings, embedding the learning across our programmes and into our upcoming 2026 new strategy.
The project aimed to do three key things:
1. Refresh and strengthen our terminology for describing different stages of a young changemaker’s development.
2. Deepen our understanding of what changemakers need at each stage of their journey.
3. Help us align and improve our programme offer, ensuring clearer progression pathways and more intentional support.
The result is a comprehensive piece of work that challenges some of our existing assumptions and offers practical tools we can adopt immediately.
Learning
The Pipelines and Pathways research provided our clearest picture yet of what it really means to grow as a young changemaker — and what it takes to support that journey well.
1. Changemaker journeys are non-linear, iterative and deeply personal
No two young changemakers follow the same path. Rather than a simple linear progression, the research found four recurring “cycles” that young people move in and out of as their confidence, experience and ambitions evolve. These cycles can repeat, overlap or stall — and each is a valid destination in itself.
2. Eight interconnected needs shape every journey
The research identified eight core needs — personal and organisational — that determine whether young changemakers can sustain their work. These include relationships, mental health, financial health, confidence and identity, internal operations, resources and financial management, networks and influence, and team and leadership. When any one of these needs is neglected, burnout or collapse of an idea becomes more likely.
3. Lived experience drives change, but can also create vulnerability
Every journey begins in personal experience of injustice — but the relationship to that experience changes over time. Changemakers often move from speaking from the “wound” to speaking from the “scar”, developing strategies to harness experience without being overwhelmed by it. This has implications for when and how we step in with support.
4. Strong relationships remain the single most valued form of support
Young people consistently described Blagrave’s relational approach — trust, care, a single point of contact — as transformative. However, the report also highlights that relationship-centred support alone isn’t enough. We must complement this with a more diverse, intentional set of support tools that meet varying needs across the journey.
5. Our existing programme language and structure don’t match the nuance of real journeys
The research confirms that the previous “aspiring–emergent–established” terminology oversimplified the complexity of changemaker growth. A more detailed framework will help us design clearer pathways and avoid unintentional gaps or duplication across programmes.
6. Progression is not only about funding — it’s about infrastructure, time and the ecosystem
Changemakers often lack what the wider sector takes for granted: physical space, operational infrastructure, consistent teams, and networks that open doors. They also face external pressures — insecure housing, low pay, systemic discrimination — that affect their ability to make change. The research encourages us to see our role not only in funding but in building the ecosystem around young people.
7. Our programmes each support only part of the journey — and need clearer definition and targeting
Challenge and Change naturally align with supporting people at an earlier stage to the Pathways Fund. The research urges us to clarify these roles and minimise assumptions about linear progression (e.g. that all Challenge and Change partners must or should transition to Pathways Fund) and clarified our assumption that changemaker needs at different stages of the journey require distinct types of support.
8. We need to be explicit about who we reach and who we miss
Our ambition to support young people with lived experience of injustice is broad — but current pipelines skew towards those with access to youth organisation that support their development as a changemaker, often in urban centres. The research challenged us to confront gaps in representation (e.g. disability justice, LGBTQ+, rural communities) and to diversify our reach intentionally.
What we are taking forward
Over 2025, we have been digesting and implementing the findings and, we have made three core changes to our work:
1. Embedding the “changemaker needs wheel”
We have refined the research’s eight needs into a 10-part needs wheel – a tool that helps us ensure our programmes are meeting the needs of the changemakers they aim to support. This will be used by programme managers as a framework to map our support toolkit against, as well as by youth-led partners to reflect on their development — both personally and organisationally — at key points. Over time, this will also help us understand the wider impact of our programmes beyond funding alone. View our refined changemaker needs wheel.
2. Updating our language and terminology
We have used the research findings, working with our youth-led partners, to create a five-stage framework for describing changemaker journeys. This will replace our previous three stages and give us a clearer, more accurate way to map programmes and design pathways between them. You’ll begin to see this new language reflected across our work as we launch our new strategy in 2026. View our refined terminology and a draft visual tool for partners.
3. Strengthening our support beyond funding
We are reviewing all the non-financial support we offer— past and present — to understand what has worked and what needs to evolve. This includes streamlining processes, building out our organisational development and wellbeing support, improving our outreach/pre-award support, and exploring how we can support access to physical spaces.
Looking ahead
The Pipelines and Pathways research marks an important moment in the development of our work investing in young people to create change. It helps us name what we’ve learned, refine how we work, and lay the foundations for a more coherent, intentional and long-term approach to supporting young people leading change.
In 2026, we will be launching our next strategy with our new terminology and approach embedded within this. We are excited about the clarity and possibility this research brings — and, above all, about continuing to back young changemakers as they shape the future.