Edinburgh Trust Approach
In 2020 the Edinburgh Poverty Commission delivered its final report, outlining the key steps and calls to action required to eradicate poverty in Edinburgh by 2030.
As the Edinburgh Trust develops its work in Edinburgh, we are taking the opportunity to align with and support these ambitions, and to define how we intend to contribute to this most vital social change within the city.
Our approach at the Edinburgh Trust is:
To be a collaborative partner in the mission to eradicate poverty in Edinburgh. It is the ambition of the Edinburgh Trust to deliver grant programmes of support across the city that uplift and improve the lives of Edinburgh’s citizens who are experiencing, or are at risk of, poverty.
To deliver this, we work with partner organisations to help ensure that:
- no one has to go without the basic essentials they need to eat, keep clean and safe, and stay warm and dry (our basic rights), and that
- those trapped in poverty have the resources available to move out of poverty and thrive.
Edinburgh Trust three broad areas of grant making
We deliver cash-first grants to individuals and families across three broad areas:
Grants to support those currently trapped in persistent poverty, who have experienced multiple life events resulting in loss of financial security and resilience, to relieve financial pressure and exacerbation of hardship
Grants to support people to move out of poverty, for those who have experienced life events resulting in loss of financial security, and who have identified and are being supported to increase financial resilience and thrive
Grants to prevent a fall into poverty, having experienced a recent life event that has undermined financial security
Our intention is for our grants to help remove the burden on people of either living without essential items or services (missing out on opportunities to develop financial resilience and move out of poverty), having to take on debt to secure them elsewhere, or of having to make financial choices that will result in other needs being unmet.
We distribute these grants through referral partners across Edinburgh. By working with others, our grants offering is placed within a network of holistic support, with the needs and ambitions of those seeking support at the centre.
Furthermore, we are committed to evolving our referral model to shift focus and power away from the Trust and into the communities in which we deliver support. In doing so we will work collaboratively alongside community organisations to deliver grants in genuine partnership, in recognition of their expertise and experience in front line support and advice, and with respect for the relationships they hold with those experiencing financial hardship and insecurity in Edinburgh.
For those who we work alongside; be that the individual applying for a grant, the organisation supporting them to apply, or others within our network, they can expect that we will always strive to work to our Principles.
Edinburgh Trust principles
- We embed dignity and equity in the delivery of our programmes, with our organisational values at the core of our response to those who seek our support .
- We work in trusted and respectful partnership, as agents of change, with our colleagues in other organisations in Edinburgh and Scotland .
- Co-production sits at the heart of our development and helps drive our work; we listen to, learn from and include those who are experts by experience
- We embrace listening and reflective practice and evaluation as a means to continually evolve and improve our impact
- We commit to always taking a long-term view focusing on the sustainability of our impact, even when our interventions are short-term
- We acknowledge that structural and systemic changes must be made in order to end poverty
- We will be accountable to the citizens of Edinburgh, for whom we exist, and to our partners