Together with Barnwood 

Tickets for Together with Barnwood, our annual public event are now live. We would love to welcome you at Patch, Gloucester on the 18th November to share with you the work the trust has been doing this year and plans for 2027.

Funding update 

Recently, more than 200 people gathered at Cheltenham Town Hall to celebrate the impact of Barnwood Trust’s Funded Partner Programme and reflect on what we’ve learned from investing £20 million into social change across Gloucestershire since 2022. Drawing together funded partners, community organisations and changemakers working across the county, the event was both a celebration of what has been achieved and a conversation about what comes next. 

Over the past four years, Barnwood has used this significant investment as an opportunity not only to support important work, but also to test, learn and evolve as a social change funder and impact investor. Our ambition has been to become more accessible, more equitable and more effective in supporting long-term social change for disabled people, neurodivergent people and people with mental health conditions. Along the way, we have learned that meaningful change rarely happens through projects alone. It happens through relationships, trust, collaboration and the willingness to learn together.  

As the largest funding programme, the Funded Partner Programme has been at the heart of this journey. Since 2022, Barnwood has awarded 170 grants worth more than £8 million, supporting organisations and initiatives working across arts, nature, counselling, advocacy, social connection, training and organisational development. Early evidence shows that this funding has helped individuals build confidence, improve wellbeing and social connections, increase independence and re-engage with education. For organisations, it has strengthened capacity, sustainability, partnerships and collective influence.  

The programme has reinforced several important lessons. Flexible and unrestricted funding matters because strong organisations need the capacity, leadership and infrastructure to create lasting change. We have also seen that while individual and organisational improvements can happen relatively quickly, shifting the systems and structures that create barriers for disabled people takes much longer. Lasting change requires funders, communities, public bodies and organisations to work together over many years. Barnwood has a greater role to play in creating the conditions that make this possible. 

These insights are shaping Barnwood’s future direction. As funding pressures increase across both the voluntary and public sectors, we are increasingly focused on how our resources can create the greatest possible impact. That means using not only our funds, but also our relationships, influence, research capability and convening power to support change.  

An important part of this next chapter will be the development and growth of Barnwood’s social and impact investment work. Building on the learning and momentum generated through the £20 million investment programme, we are exploring how strategic partnerships, social outcome partnerships and impact investment approaches can attract additional resources into Gloucestershire, and power significant social change. Our goal here is simple: to ensure that Barnwood’s capital helps unlock even more funding, investment and collaboration for disability and mental health justice across the county.  

Working alongside funders, investors, community organisations and people with lived experience, we want to help create the conditions for larger and more sustained change. The event reminded us that Barnwood does not have all the answers, but we are proud to be part of a growing partnership for change. Together, we are learning what is possible when funding, investment and collective action come together in pursuit of a more inclusive, equitable Gloucestershire.