The case for funding wellbeing

The organisations we work with at LEF are operating in an increasingly difficult landscape, with significant implications for the wellbeing of their staff. It barely needs repeating that the past few years have seen a myriad of challenges – including cuts to funding, a pandemic and a cost-of-living crisis, alongside hostile government rhetoric and legislation. Alongside a workload that can be trauma-heavy, this has caused many organisations to struggle with staff recruitment and retention, prompting a vicious cycle of stress, overwork and poor wellbeing. Charities and activists have faced an increase in direct threats from far-right activists, with recent years seeing racist riots and an increase in racist abuse which has left many feeling unsafe. 

It’s in this context that we’ve been considering how we can best support our grant partners with wellbeing. Funders are often called on to concentrate on funding better – avoiding short-term, inflexible funding at lower levels – rather than spending time and resources on wellbeing exclusively. This is why we’re making longer and more flexible grants under our new 2025–30 strategy. We do, however, believe that there’s also room for funders to spend additional time and resources on wellbeing alongside these grants. 

That’s why we wanted to understand more about how our grant partners support wellbeing in their organisations and what their needs are. We felt it was unfair to ask already stretched organisations to give us their input without receiving any additional support, so our board approved £5,000 uplifts to grant partners in our 2024 and 2025 grant rounds. There were no restrictions on how they spent the money as long as it was on wellbeing, but we introduced optional learning activities around it to help inform our approach. 

We knew that £5,000 wouldn’t be a cure-all, but we hoped it would prompt useful discussions and learning. We also offered a group session to grant partners to think about what wellbeing looks like to them, run by an external facilitator. 

Our learning from this wellbeing pilot is ongoing, but we have some initial reflections for others who want to support wellbeing in the sector:

1. Organisations are at different places with wellbeing. Some have policies and support in place; others have never had a budget for it, nor the time to think about it. It’s important to recognise this, as it means their needs and how they approach the funding will be very different.
2. Supporting wellbeing requires time and resources, particularly for organisations that need to develop their understanding of wellbeing and their staff needs before planning how to spend money on it.
3. There is no ​‘one size fits all’ approach. Part of me hoped that this pilot would illustrate that everyone wants the exact same thing, and so we could efficiently pay for a shared service for everyone. This hasn’t been the case: our grant partners have used the funding in varied ways, including individual support for staff, social or group activities or operational support.
4. Bespoke or tailored support is valued but not always available or affordable. Organisations told us that ​‘off the shelf’ support and packages (such as training or Employee Assistance Programmes) aren’t always suitable to address the needs of their staff or organisation. However, developing targeted programmes is prohibitively expensive. 

Grant partners have told us that a key value of this uplift is that it has given them permission to focus on wellbeing. They’ve also said that receiving funding specifically for wellbeing has made staff feel seen and their challenges acknowledged. As we develop the support we offer our grant partners, we want to continue with this approach. In the coming months we’ll be learning more about what grant partners have spent the funding on, and will share further updates on this pilot. 

Alongside the uplifts, we’re working with the Black Wellbeing Collective to provide a programme of therapeutic support for racialised staff at our grant partners. This programme has run for the past two years, and every participant said that they would recommend the service to a colleague, with 80% reporting an improved ability to manage workplace stress. We also support trainee solicitors on our Justice First Fellowship programme to deal with stress, vicarious trauma and burnout via Claiming Space, a social enterprise offering innovative training for lawyers working with vulnerable populations.

In the meantime, we’re eager to collaborate with others. We’ve had conversations with some funders and are keen to have more. We want to understand where other funders are with supporting wellbeing – and whether there are opportunities to work together, such as through pooling funds or sharing information and resources, to find ways to help our support for wellbeing go further.