Bring us a project 
Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust · UK Democracy Fund
Community power and democratic participation
Research, engagement and tailored capacity support for Black-led organisations working to strengthen democratic participation.
CommissionerJoseph Rowntree Reform Trust / UK Democracy Fund
Scope15+ consultancy days
CapabilityResearch · Engagement · Capacity strengthening
ModelWorkshops and bespoke mentoring
Black-led organisations held deep community trust and insight, but needed tailored support to test approaches, strengthen organisational capability and translate learning into wider democratic-participation practice.
- Lead community research and engagement with participating organisations.
- Design and facilitate practical funding and organisational-development workshops.
- Provide bespoke mentoring grounded in each organisation’s goals and context.
- Capture learning across three pilots and translate it into usable recommendations.
- Community research and structured engagement.
- Funding workshops and tailored one-to-one consultancy.
- Support across three distinct pilot approaches.
- A final synthesis of evidence, learning and recommendations.
Results and evidence
3community pilotsThree Black-led organisations tested approaches shaped around the communities they already served.
2,800registrations generated across pilotsApproximate voter registrations generated through the three supported community pilots.
15+consultancy days commissionedResearch, workshops, mentoring and learning synthesis were delivered across the commission.
1cross-pilot learning reportEvidence from distinct local approaches was brought together into wider recommendations.
What the work shows
Trusted participation work cannot be copied and pasted between communities. Strong programmes resource local leadership, adapt to context and connect delivery evidence to systemic learning.
Read the UK Democracy Fund report“Local Champions played an essential role in connecting the UK Democracy Fund with excellent organisations that could work to address the low voting rates of Black people in the UK through running effective voter registration campaigns and producing important learning into what works.”
Ellen Berry · Head of the UK Democracy Fund