Step Change is a charitable fund focused on helping leading Oxfordshire charities grow and thrive. It uses a unique approach to ensure donor funds are well invested, resulting in an exceptionally high success rate during the life of the fund. 

The aim of the Step Change Fund is to strengthen foundations of proven voluntary sector organisations, so that they can grow to meet the challenges faced by some of our most disadvantaged neighbours. For many people in our county, these challenges are multiple and often embedded across generations and within areas. The Step Change Fund supports medium-sized social organisations that are already making a positive difference, making substantial grants to strengthen them over the long term.

If you are a charity looking to apply to the Step Change Fund, please find details here >>

All the charities who are successful in securing a Step Change grant are provided with a Step Change project manager. The project manager assists the charities in setting project KPIs and then supports and monitors the attainment of associated benchmarks against which funds are released over the life of the project.

Step Change donors are provided with a quarterly report, detailing the progress of each charity in its progress towards these pre-agreed benchmarks. If a charity is going ‘off-course’, the project manager keeps the panel informed and decisions are made about whether to release the next tranche of funds, or whether adjustments are needed. The quarterly report provides information on all developments so donors have a very clear picture of who is benefiting from their donation and how the funds are being used.

This guidance, combined with the proven Step Change methodology, has seen the fund achieve an 80% success rate and an average increase of 60% in the turnover of the organisations supported.

1. Charity completes eligibility questionnaire.
2. If considered eligible, the charity submits an ‘Expression of Interest’ setting out the proposed project
3. If invited, charity pitches a full bid detailing key performance indicators, with support from a Step Change project manager
4. On approval, project manager agrees project milestones against which tranches of the grant are released
5. Following the final payment, performance continues to be monitored for one year

The Step Change Fund was established in 2014 when a group of Oxfordshire-based philanthropists recognised that many charitable organisations struggle to obtain funding to build core capacity and thus fail to achieve sustainable growth. Donors to Step Change understand and value the vital contribution to the community made by voluntary sector organisations. The fund gives donors a unique vehicle for combining their resources and making investments at a scale that reinforces the best organisations for the long term.

The fund maintains regular communication with its donor community: an annual dinner, quarterly updates and access to members of the Grants Panel ensure donors understand where and why funds are being allocated and can see the impact of their giving.

Between 2014 and 2021, the Step Change Fund has made around £1.7 million in charitable investments into 32 different charities. The average grant is £35,000.

Every year a review is published of the Step Change Fund’s achievements, including grants made and how well grantees are meeting their KPIs. In addition, a full grants list shows all grants made since the start of the fund, and summarises the outputs of Step Change grant-making to date. These can be viewed by clicking on the images below.

To further build the fund, we seek donors to join our group and make a pledge for the next phase. If you’d be interested in joining us, please contact Step Change Chair Sandy Arbuthnot at sandy.arbuthnot@oxfordshire.org.