FinancialGroupsImpactNewsOCFChildren playing in a sleigh

Funding of £5,000 has been awarded as part of OCF’s first ever incremental grants round administered through online matching platform The Good Exchange. 

The Story Museum responded to OCF’s call for applications to help us spend £40,000 in funding originating from The Big Lottery and the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. The grants are to boost youth social action – campaigning, fundraising and volunteering, all of which enable young people to make a positive difference in their communities as well as develop their own skills and knowledge. OCF must bring in a 1:1 match of new donations in order to spend the funds – so another £40k in match funding.

OCF is therefore using The Good Exchange to look for relevant applications, which allows us or the applicant to apply matched funds to the grants made. Rather than having a fixed closing date for all applications, the #iwill funds are being awarded in grants as and when an appropriate application is identified on The Good Exchange. Potential applicants should therefore not delay in putting a project forward.

OCF’s grants panel was inspired by The Story Museum’s Young Producers project, where the charity plans to create a panel of young people aged 11-15 from Oxford’s most disadvantaged areas for a six-month project whilst their building is closed for major redevelopment. The group will meet on a regular basis to develop their own skills, and specifically to get involved with co-producing a Story Museum event at a local festival, contributing towards the planning of a new installation for the museum in Spring 2019, and volunteering front-of-house.

Participation in the panel will develop specific skills to aid participants’ career development, but will also boost personal qualities, including leadership, team working and confidence. The project will have a lasting legacy not just for the young people directly involved in the panel, but also in helping the museum develop an artistic programme that is co-produced by young people from communities that traditionally have low involvement in central Oxford’s cultural offer.

You can read The Story Museum’s full application on The Good Exchange here.

Find out more about applying to our #iwill funding round