Third Sector article: It’s time for trusts and foundations to fund the glue

Third Sector, 13th Jan 2026

The Guardian’s recent campaign and editorial in support of local charities showed that people are waking up to the catastrophic losses in the sector and the impact it is having on society. This is to be welcomed. But we need to clear about how grantmakers can contribute: simply funding more ‘interventions’ in local settings isn’t enough.

We need to fund the ‘glue’ of charities if we are serious about healing communities riven by division and increasingly susceptible to hate. Many community organisations support multiple different groups of people. But most importantly, they offer chances for those groups to interact, overlap and build connections.

The problem is that such overlapping, interstitial ‘spaces’ – physical and social – are now lacking, and near-unfundable. In my past experience, the tiny kitchens and corridors in community organisations were the most important spaces. No need for ‘encounter groups’ when you’re trying to make five cups of tea with six people in a 4x4ft kitchen.

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