How can we fund participatory budgeting?
/This article was featured in the SCDC Weekly - 15th May 2024.
Participatory budgeting is a way for communities to take direct decisions on how budgets are spent. But, in a time when those budgets are stretched or hard to come by, how can we properly fund PB?
That’s the question we sought to explore at a recent PB Scotland learning event where we examined the benefits and challenges of funding PB in different ways.
In the past, community-led, small grants PB has been resourced by large-scale funds such as the Community Choices Fund. With that kind of funding not as prominent as it once was, PB initiatives such as the Ripple Project in Edinburgh have brought together a range of funding sources, using their connections and knowledge of their community to help it go further.
Using a process designed and delivered by local people, the Ripple Project were able to channel an additional £67,000 into the community and delivered 25 new projects after receiving support from the local community.
Of course challenges remain, especially around how to support these processes on an ongoing basis and how we resource the wider costs of PB activity, with significant time required for good engagement and planning.
While funding remains a key issue for organisations across the sector, projects like this show us how small-grants PB can be used to deliver local, flexible and responsive work that can have a significant impact - long after the pounds and pence are spent.
What you need to know this week.
The SCDC Weekly gives you everything you need to know around community development and beyond.
It’s free, concise and delivered directly to your inbox every Wednesday.