One of the most notable aspects of the UK’s response to the cost-of-living crisis has been the emergence of ‘warm spaces’ as a community response of compassion and support for those struggling to heat their homes.
The Warm Welcome Campaign supported more than 7,000 local organisations running warm spaces, which received around 2.5million visits between them. The impact of these spaces has been enormous, not just in terms of keeping people warm but also in tackling loneliness and boosting social connection. They also helped to revitalise many local community spaces and organisations that had struggled to recover and attract volunteers after the Covid-19 pandemic.
In response to this remarkable development in civil society, a number of distinct funding efforts took place over the last winter. The Co-operative Group launched a £1m ‘warm spaces’ fund in December 2022, which took the form of a match fund with the funding platform Crowdfunder. The National Lottery Community Fund made more than 100 grants to support warm spaces, whilst the Warm Welcome Campaign itself gave out almost £300,000 in small grants of £1000 to spaces in areas of highest deprivation. At the same time, a large number of local authorities and community foundations set up their own bespoke funding arrangements for local groups.
With warm spaces highly likely to return next winter, conversations have now begun on whether funders could collaborate more effectively in order to intentionally shape and grow the funding ecosystem for this nascent but potentially hugely significant social movement.
With organisational energy bills having skyrocketed, helping local groups become more energy-efficient and sustainable is going to be key to ensuring that warm spaces can reopen this winter.
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One opportunity under exploration is a collaborative match fund which warm spaces across the country could all access, giving them a much needed boost to their resources whilst also equipping them to tell their story and raise local support.
Another opportunity is for capital funders of community spaces to work together to try to leverage support from Government and other sources to resource improvements in energy efficiency for warm spaces. With organisational energy bills having skyrocketed, helping local groups become more energy-efficient and sustainable is going to be key to ensuring that warm spaces can reopen this winter, as well as enabling them to become a tool in helping to hit net zero targets.
So even as temperatures soar this summer, it will be a crucial time for funders to explore the potential for collaboration to resource local efforts to keep people warm and connected in what is likely to be another extremely difficult winter ahead for low-income households across the UK.
