How trustees are making a big impact: a look at Hampshire Scouts’ new grant scheme
This year, Hampshire Scouts are offering an innovative grant scheme to support young people and leaders to attend the 2023 World Scout Jamboree in Korea. They’ve never offered grants for World Scout Jamborees before, but thanks to the County Executive Committee’s initiative, a bigger and more diverse group of people will be able to have the incredible opportunity to attend one. We spoke with Tom Bell, Deputy County Chair in Hampshire, to find out how they made it happen and the challenges they faced along the way.
How did the idea of offering grants for the 25th World Scout Jamboree came up?
After struggling to fund my own trip to the World Scout Jamboree in the US in 2019, I realised that some counties were offering grants but that wasn’t yet a reality in Hampshire.
I brought this idea to our board of trustees – which I’ve been a member of since and we started working on a proposal. We wanted to have a grant scheme that would take into consideration people’s individual stories, providing support in a way which would have the biggest impact on our unit and represent the diversity of our county.
What were the biggest challenges faced along the way?
The first big challenge was to win over the board of trustees and have a shared understanding across the team that this was a good idea. As trustees, we have the responsibility of making sure the money is spent wisely and responsibly to make an impact on young people.
The project was discussed at several county board meetings. We prepared a detailed proposal, presenting how we’d fund the grant and the criteria we’d use to decide who could receive financial support.
After almost three years in the making, we’re approaching the final stage of the process, where over 90 applicants will be informed of our decision.
What was the key to the project’s success?
It was really important to involve all the trustees in the process and make it a cause that everyone cares about.
As a team, we’ve consulted with many different people along the way, including other counties who were already offering grants for World Scout Jamborees, our County Youth Commissioner, County Chair, County Treasurer and County Commissioner to make sure we were taking into account every aspect of the project. We’ve also researched different grant models and best practices from other charities.
Why is this grant scheme innovative?
After our research on how grants are given and how to have a fair application process, we came to the conclusion that we wanted to have a grant scheme that would take into consideration not only the applicants’ economic situation, but also their personal circumstances.
We held interviews with the applicants (or the parents/guardians of young people), and ranked the applications based upon financial and fundraising abilities. The grants were divided into seven categories: 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, 30%, 45% and 50% of the final fee.
We believe that the process we’ve created resulted in a fair distribution of grants, giving more to those with less fundraising and financial abilities. That made a real difference to people who otherwise wouldn’t be able to attend.
What have the trustees learnt from this experience?
It gave us the opportunity to reconnect with our young people and leaders, remind ourselves that we too can be proactive and propose change, and highlighted the impact we can have by mobilising the resources that are available to us.
As trustees, we work behind the scenes to support our volunteers to deliver great Scout activities to young people. It’s been fantastic to help them experience the incredible adventure of attending a World Scout Jamboree.
How do you feel after seeing the project succeed?
I feel a tremendous amount of pride. I’m proud that we, collectively, were able to deliver something that is making a real difference to people, and leaving a legacy in the county and the wider movement.
To understand in detail the grant scheme Hampshire Scouts have created and the steps they’ve taken to get it running, check their grants webpage.
If you're interested in providing your own local grants, you can read our online advice.