Because of this, as a team, we spend a lot of time asking ourselves a simple question: What would it really take for change to happen? Again and again, we come back to the same answer. It’s not just about good programmes. It’s about trust, power, and the people willing to challenge systems that aren’t working.

Our Leaders for Big Change Fund is a small but important experiment for us. It’s designed to support experienced leaders with bold, early-stage ideas that could lead to meaningful change for young people in under-served communities, and to do so in a way that’s more just, more equitable and rooted in lived experience.

Much of Big Change’s recent work, including the Spark Awards for Big Changemakers, has focused on backing young leaders early in their journeys. For this fund, we deliberately chose to do something different. We wanted to create space for people who bring more experience and deep insight and commitment. We were keen to find leaders who have been working with under-served communities for years and are ready to test new approaches that could shift how systems work.

That doesn’t mean we believe experience is the only path to change. It means that for this fund, we are confident that if we back people with time, money, perspective, and relationships and we trust them to use them well, it will lead to real impact.

Instead of running an open application process, we asked our partners, allies and community to recommend people we might not otherwise meet. That was intentional. We wanted to reduce some of the barriers that traditional funding processes can create, tap into collective wisdom and reach beyond our usual networks. 

From there, we listened, learned, asked questions, and selected four leaders whose ideas were developed with and for young people and had the potential to create systemic change.

The four leaders we’re supporting are creating change by:

• rebuilding trust between families and schools
• responding to youth housing insecurity with dignity and care
• creating intergenerational spaces for learning and belonging through music and culture
• supporting girls’ wellbeing earlier, before challenges escalate

Their work is anchored in lived experience, collaboration and care. Each leader is focused on tackling root causes and exploring what it means for young people to feel supported, connected, and given the conditions to thrive.

We will provide funding, space, peer support and belief. And we’re excited to walk alongside these leaders as they test their ideas, learn with and from young people, and build momentum for change. 

By bringing these experienced leaders into our Community they will connect to create future opportunities to work collectively. This matters because ideas and leaders can’t shift systems on their own; we need to work together.

Lasting change comes from learning, collaboration and leadership rooted in purpose, and that’s what the Leaders for Big Change Fund is all about. It won’t be the last experiment we run, and it won’t always look like this, but we’re proud to be trying something different. 

We’ll be sharing what we learn to spark conversations about how we fund change to create a deeper impact, and we’ll be looking to run future Leaders for Big Change funding rounds in collaboration with other funders and partners. Please get in touch if this resonates.

Read more about these incredible leaders.