Live projects

Learn more about how we’re working with charities, foundations and public agencies to strengthen communities.

Leading in Uncertainty

A space for charity leaders to pause, share, and learn

Open and Trusting Grant-making

The movement and community for equitable funding

Connecting Health Communities

Bringing partners together in place to tackle their deepest health inequalities

Investing in the Power of Civil Society, funded by the National Lottery Community Fund

This major pilot, led by Lloyds Bank Foundation, looks at what support charities need to do their best work. It will involve up to 640 organisations across 2026, offering tailored support to reflect different contexts and challenges.

IVAR is leading the ‘test and learn’ part of the work, using action research to inform live improvements, capture the experiences of participating charities, and build an evidence base about what helps charities thrive – especially those that are least well served by existing support.

The Evaluation Roundtable

A space for foundation leaders and learning staff to refine and deepen their thinking and practice.

The Jane Hatfield Award

An annual grant for a team of young researchers to investigate community, social action and/or social justice. The Award is run in partnership with The Ubele Initiative. For 2024, we are supporting two separate pieces of research with awards of £5,000 each.

Growing the Field: Rural Philanthropy in the UK

Rural philanthropy is often overlooked in the UK, despite countryside populations having distinct, often underserved needs.

Our new research aims to change that. We will work to understand how grant-making is currently serving rural communities and what needs to change so we meet future socio-economic needs.

Community Participatory Action Research (CPAR)

We’re supporting community researchers from NHS Workforce Training and Education Southeast to join the dots between conversations with local and national stakeholders so that community-led research can inform the priorities and development of health services for marginalised communities in the Southeast.

Propel Initiative

Propel is a collaborative initiative of funders led by London Funders. We’re working alongside Propel funders and grantees to understand how to achieve equitable systemic change through long-term, collaborative funding.

Future Communities Fund

We are a learning partner for Co-op Foundation’s Future Communities Fund, which seeks to contribute to building communities that are diverse, equitable and inclusive, and prioritise youth activism.

Advice Workforce Development Fund (AWDF)

London Legal Support Trust and the funders and organisations involved in the AWDF want to explore the model of collaborative working that has been developed to design and lead the work of the Fund.

The AI Exchange

IVAR is delighted to be joining forces with CAST to strengthen lines of communication and connection across and between charities and grantmakers – with the ultimate aim of empowering more confident, robust and well-informed responses to AI across the board.

Corra Foundation

Increase its understanding of long-term systemic solutions. This includes understanding how and where Corra can engage with social impact investing and contribute to long-term systemic change.

Hyde Charitable Trust

Exploring the Trust’s contribution through its grantmaking and funder plus activities. To encompass the work of the wider Hyde Foundation team as well as the Trust.

ICS Learning Network (Pears)

Pears, NHS England and Barnardo’s are setting up a peer learning network to support Integrated Care System (ICS) leads to develop and share approaches to youth engagement in health settings. IVAR will facilitate the network through an iterative and flexible programme of support.

Southwark Council

We are supporting Southwark to explore their approach to open and trusting grant-making through a series of light-touch conversations.

William Grant Foundation

Wants to develop ‘greater clarity about its role and positioning’ and provide those responsible for governance and operation with a ‘road map’ to navigate the next ten years.

Local Trust Legacy project

We are working with Local Trust to explore how trusts and foundations fund resident-led initiatives by embedding more participatory, flexible, and long-term approaches. The work aims to influence funding behaviours towards resident-led initiatives to achieve lasting change in neighbourhoods and receive more sustainable and accessible financial support beyond the life of the Big Local programme.

Southwark is characterised by both wealth and poverty, where life chances are unequally spread. The One Southwark programme led by United St Saviours aims to transform lives and opportunities for young people experiencing disadvantage through collective action. One Southwark takes a person-centred approach and links young people to opportunities in it’s growing network of local businesses, funders, community groups and residents, while at the same time mobilising this network to make the systemic changes needed to level the playing field.

IVAR will act as learning partner to the programme, supporting the team to capture young people’s journeys. The IVAR team will work closely with the cohort of 20 young people to explore the barriers to young people’s progression in Southwark and the systematic changes needed, involving them closely in the design of the research and outputs. IVAR will also collect data and insight into the experiences and perspectives of One Southwark Coalition members and delivery partners. Through this research, IVAR will draw out learning about the programme, share insights on the model of using collective action and a person-centred approach to achieve systems and behaviour change and use this to understand how it might be replicated elsewhere.

NHS Workforce Training and Education Southeast (NHS WT&E SE) has commissioned IVAR to support community researchers’ development on the Community Participatory Action Research project, for example by improving skills and knowledge on action planning, communication and how the system works.

We are working with community researchers to join the dots between conversations with local and national stakeholders so that community-led research can inform the priorities and development of health services for marginalised communities in the Southeast. We are also working with the project’s Oversight Group to draw out key findings from the work with community researchers and support learning.