The History of the People's Fund

In 2004 the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) wanted to see if Participatory Budgeting could work in the UK. They commissioned the Community Pride Initiative to work with four organisations across the country, and the results of the pilot schemes would be used to develop a best practice model for use in local government.

Back on the Map's management board successfully applied to run one of the pilots. They decided to try out the concept using a smaller ‘Community Chest' project, which later became the People's Fund.

How did we do it?

• We recruited residents to form a steering group
• The members of the group took part in training on budgets, priority setting and consultation
• We supported the group to carry out wider consultation with the local community
• We looked at the most popular ideas from the public consultation
• The group decided what priorities the fund should address
• We invited applications from groups
• We held a voting event for the public to decide which applications should receive the money from the fund.

Every year the steering group reviews the priorities for the fund and we have carried out a second major consultation with the public to make sure that the People's Fund develops in the direction that the residents want.

Following the success of the pilot, Back on the Map agreed to provide £350,000 over seven years for the People's Fund (£50,000 a year). Sunderland City Council also contributed £20,000 in the first year through the East area Forum from its Single Initiative Budget (SIB).