Update on our partnership with the Alliance for Youth Organising

Those funders included, the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and Esmée Fairbairn Foundation. Together, in partnership with Civic Power Fund we supported the creation of the Alliance for Youth Organising as a shared project aimed at strengthening the infrastructure, funding and connections needed for organising to grow, led by and for youth organisers and those that support them. 

Blagrave’s new strategy marks a change in our approach - from broad regional and national grant making to deep, long-term investment in three locations: London, Birmingham, and Portsmouth. As part of this shift, we will be slowing down investment with the Alliance for Youth Organising with our core national grant coming to an end.

We are incredibly proud of what’s been built: the resources moved to youth organising, the way power has been shifted towards young organisers, and the stronger, shared understanding of the field. With a clear strategy, strong governance model, and Alliance members at the centre, it feels like the work is well set up for what comes next. 

The learning from the Alliance has helped us to strengthen our own direction, particularly our focus on supporting youth led change, and we’ll continue to carry this forward in our place-based work.

We are incredibly proud to have played a role in helping bring the Alliance for Youth Organising into being, and of what it has collectively built with and for the youth organising field.

Over the past two years, through this initial pilot phase, the Alliance members once appointed have:

Alongside this, the project has helped build something equally important: the foundations for a more youth-led and field-informed approach to resourcing organising.

Today, the Alliance has a clear strategy and a governance model that places young organisers at the centre of decision-making, supported by co-leadership, facilitation and backbone infrastructure. Together, this creates a model that is designed to resource organising, strengthen networks, and influence how funding flows across the sector over time. 

We are grateful for everything the Alliance has achieved, our partnership with other founding funders, and for being a part of the collaboration. We are excited to remain connected as a founding funder and committed supporter as our own work evolves.

We will stay part of the Funder Collaborative for Youth Organising and will continue to play a role supporting youth organising in each of our three locations. This isn’t goodbye, and we look forward to seeing how our partnership evolves as our strategies develops, moving from a core national funder to a committed partner and peer.

We encourage other national funders to step forward and back this work by investing in the Alliance for Youth Organising as a vehicle to:

• sustain and grow the infrastructure that has been built
   
• continue shifting resources and decision-making closer to young organisers
   
• and scale a more participatory, field-informed approach to funding across the UK

At a time of increasing inequality, polarisation and social division, youth organising has an important role to play in strengthening communities, building leadership, and creating more constructive pathways for collective action.

The initial pilot phase has demonstrated what is possible when youth organising is properly resourced and trusted. The foundations are now in place for the next stage of the Alliance’s development and growth.