Social Change

In 2008, the Foundation is looking for applications under its social change theme which explore innovative, but well-thought-through, approaches from which learning can be gained in the following key areas:

Financial Inclusion
We are interested in projects which will generate improvements in financial literacy and access to financial services for people currently not well-served by existing institutions and practices. While we will consider programmes offering new forms of support and advice to financially excluded groups, we are more interested in projects which seek long-term solutions to the problem of financial exclusion, especially those which engage financial institutions and involve the exploration of appropriate new financial products.

Environmental Awareness
We are interested in innovative work aimed at increasing personal responsibility and for trialling accessible, realisable solutions to aspects of local, national or international environmental issues. We are especially interested in working with excluded groups. The programme is unlikely to fund projects for children, young people or schools or any new carbon counting or offsetting schemes.

Older People
We are interested in projects focusing on new ways to involve and support elderly people in their local communities. Isolation is a major factor in ill health and unhappiness among older people and we are interested in applications which offer new methods of drawing on their experiences and talents, engaging them more fully in their community and valuing their input, as well as offering opportunities for a variety of interactions.

For further information email socialchange@gulbenkian.org.uk