How funders can support wellbeing

Supporting the wellbeing of staff, volunteers, and trustees has risen up charities’ agendas in recent years, and rightly so. Putting in place measures to protect mental health can prevent burnout, improve happiness at work, and increase productivity. 

 

One funder, the Tudor Trust, has decided to help charities in their efforts by allocating ring-fenced funding of £2,000 each to its grantees to invest in wellbeing initiatives.  

 

The grants were handed out in late 2020 to meet concerns raised by grantees around the pressure they were under, especially amid COVID-19.  

 

The Trust is now urging other funders to follow its lead by recommending some practical funding suggestions for trusts and foundations that will help charities.  

 

One year on from introducing its Wellbeing Grant initiative, the Trust has evaluated its impact and provided a raft of interesting mental health ideas for charities to adopt, from one-to-one counselling to mindfulness sessions.  

 

 

Dedicate wellbeing funding  

 

Among the most innovative suggestions to emerge from the Tudor Trust’s evaluation is the recommendation to set aside part of all grants to charities for the mental health of staff and volunteers.  

 

One grantee surveyed suggested that 5% of each major grant could be set aside to promote wellbeing.  

 

Another said: “Perhaps team wellbeing could be built into grants, with organisations encouraged to use some funding for wellbeing at all times.” 

 

In addition, grantees called for funders to develop dedicated wellbeing grants that are separate from other funding.  

 

“Some grantees felt that The Tudor Trust, as well as other funders, could continue to offer funding or embed funding for staff wellbeing into grants. They felt this would help ensure that organisations can continue to prioritise wellbeing,” says the Trust’s evaluation.  

 

 

Share learning 

 

Another aspect of the Tudor Trust’s evaluation was the importance of funders sharing learning with each other on the best ways to support charity staff and volunteer wellbeing.  Several grantees told the Trust that an online training resource around wellbeing would be useful. 

 

“We would benefit from finding out what other organisations have identified as ideas for using their grants in the hope that this is something we can consider for the future,” said one grantee. 

 

Grantees also suggested funders could help charities by signposting providers of mental health support that have a proven track record of success in the sector.  

 

 

Embrace variety

 

Among other eye-catching findings from the Tudor Trust’s research is a look at the variety of ways charities used dedicated wellbeing grants. 

 

Several initiatives to boost morale, team building, and encourage recuperation were put in place, including: 

• Mindfulness sessions 
• Counselling
• Trauma Informed Approaches
• Conflict management 
• Gym membership 

One said of its team building event through the grant was “a celebration of the work we had done and helped us reconnect as a team”. 

 

Another said that it used its funding for a staff away day at a museum, which was “the first time we had brought staff face-to-face since the start of the pandemic”. 

 

“The day included mindfulness exercises and some fun activities,” the grantee added.  

 

Tudor Trust Learning and Communications Manager Annie Salter said: “The most popular activities were those which brought staff and volunteers together.” 

 

She added that the Trust’s wellbeing grants “responded to an unspoken but recognised need, sending the message it is okay to prioritise wellbeing”. 

 

Another way charities used their wellbeing grant was to pay for staff subscriptions to mental health apps. Funding was also spent on spa days, yoga sessions, and sending wellbeing packages to staff and volunteers. 

 

The money was deployed by some to offer a financial end-of-year bonus, to help staff struggling with the increasing cost of living.  

 

 

Encourage flexibility 

 

Salter says that giving charities flexibility to use wellbeing funding in a way that suited their organisation is important to the success of such an initiative.  

 

“The flexibility of the grant allowed charities to tailor their spending decisions, with many organising two or more activities.,” said Salter.  

 

“Smaller organisations – with smaller teams – could even look into tailored, individual support.” 

 

The Trust’s report added that it is important for funders to trust charities “to interpret wellbeing costs and activities for themselves and decide how or when they would spend the money”. 

 

 

Everyone benefits

 

One additional benefit of supporting charity staff wellbeing is that it helps the mental health of funders’ own employees.
 
“Grant Managers sometimes felt overwhelmed by the level of stress and anxiety some of the individuals they were talking to were dealing with,” said Salter.  
 
“Being able to give this grant and acknowledge the work groups were doing had a powerful impact on Tudor staff, giving the team a sense that we were doing something to help, however small, at a very difficult time.  
 
"There were also real moments of joy and celebration as we shared some of the amazing things groups were doing with their grants.”