Hannah Paterson, Participatory Grant-Making at the National Lottery Community Fund What Donors Want

In the twenty-ninth episode, Rachel Stephenson Sheff and Gaby Cervera chat with Hannah Paterson, a Senior Portfolio Manager at the UK's National Lottery Community Fund. The Community Fund is one of the largest funders in the UK and distributes £600m+ a year to communities across the country, raised by players of The National Lottery itself. Our conversation with Hannah dives into all of this and more - including Hannah's passion for, and expertise in, participatory grant-making.

Part of Hannah's role is to iterate and test participatory approaches across the National Lottery, and share best practices on how to operationalise this theory across the sector. Last year she was also the recipient of a Churchill Fellowship from the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, which enabled her to explore participatory grant-making in South Africa and the US. This episode is a must listen for fundraisers who are curious about how to navigate this new model - and for funders who are curious about how to implement it.

If you have any questions for Hannah, you can reach out to her directly (Hannah.Paterson@tnlcommunityfund.org.uk). We also recommend reading her brilliant Medium blog (https://hannah-paterson.medium.com/) and listening to What Donors Want episode #21 featuring the With and For Girls Collective.

As well, we're thrilled to announce our new Media Partner, Alliance Magazine! Head to their website https://www.alliancemagazine.org/ for lots of really interesting, progressive philanthropic insights. Plus, you can get a 25% discount on an Alliance subscription by using the code ‘WhatDonorsWant’ at checkout.

P.S. Have any burning questions for a future What Donors Want guest? Submit them here and you’ll get a shout out on air! https://bit.ly/3cLYGea