PiP Report May 2007 (3.9Mb) PiP is a research project to find out about all the LGBT voluntary and community organizations operating in London.
[Executive Summary (95Kb) HERE ]

In 2006 KiS carried out a comprehensive analysis of London’s LGBT voluntary and community sector.

The final report highlights chronic funding issues in a sector that is considerably smaller than it was twenty years ago.

The sector is diverse and spans a wide range of organisations, communities and issues yet struggles to gain a voice on the strategic agenda because of poor infrastructure and lack of support.

The report concisely articulates the complex issues facing community of interest organisations, especially those dealing with compound oppression, and sets out recommendations for new approaches to the development of this inspired and innovative sector.

KiS is currently developing the second phase of a ten-year London-wide LGBT community engagement and development strategy.  

Why?

Well, we believe that there are very important reasons why LGBT organizations struggle to fund their work and create lasting change and we wanted to know more about the collective experience.

Phase 1 of the research is now complete and a full report is now available HERE (3.9Mb)

[Executive Summary (95Kb) HERE ]

If you would like to receive a hard copy of the printed report as soon as it is published
please      contact us quoting "Phase 1 report" - Remember to include your details.

KiS (Kairos in Soho) :
is a Registered Charity that delivers services to and supports the LGBT community in London. We might be called a ‘first-tier’, or ‘delivery’ organisation.

Basically our connection is with individual members of the public, and we exist in order to meet their needs.

ChangeUp : National Government project to ensure 'a sustainable baseline of infrastructure support at local level, regionally and nationally', for first-tier organisations.

You can find out more about it at www.changeup.org.uk

The role of such organizations is usually two-fold :

1. To speak up for the collective voice of the delivery organisations around matters of policy, to make sure that the actual need of communities is understood and known by those in decision-making positions.
   
   This can in turn have a major impact on funding strategies, Government-level and other policy.

2. To offer delivery organisations support with their development, management and funding.
   
   Many delivery organisations will have evolved to address a particular need of a local community, or a ‘community of interest’ organisation (like a LGBT organization, or a Black and minority ethnic organisation).
   
   They may not necessarily involve people skilled in developing an organisation, at least not at the outset.

It is not only LGBT infrastructure organisations that are supposed to support LGBT organisations, but the whole of the infrastructure is meant to address the needs of the whole sector :

It has been known for sometime that the current infrastructure for the voluntary and community sector does not meet the needs of LGBT organisations.

Homophobia and lack of awareness have largely been the cause of this neglect, though the LGBT sector itself has made brave attempts to develop its own infrastructure and address the problem.

There are also good examples of infrastructure organizations working with the LGBT community.

In the course of its fundraising over the past two years, KiS has become increasing aware of the virtual absence of the needs and experiences of LGBT people across not only infrastructure but also funders and policy makers.

This in turn is having a huge impact on the ability of organisations like KiS to raise sufficient funding to fully meet the needs of the LGBT community.

For this reason, KiS has become increasing involved in addressing some of this exclusion. This is a means to an end, so that we can eventually bring about the changes necessary to make funding more accessible to the community.

One aspect of this work has been that KiS has been attending one of the the Equalities Sub Group of the London Regional consortium of ChangeUp.

That group has identified that

‘there is lack of capacity for involvement in infrastructure
development from organisations in the sexual orientation sector’

and recommends as a possible solution

‘urgent need for better resourced infrastructure support within the LGBT sector’.

In an earlier piece of research carried out in partnership between the LGBT Consortium and Greater London Authority, ‘Infrastructure issues’, (within the LGBT sector), were identified as one of three key areas of research needs in ‘Setting the Agenda for Research; Report of a Scoping Exercise of the LGBT Voluntary and Community Sector in London, (2003/2004)’.

The report identified that

‘there is a need for research to be carried out into the capacity
issues of LGBT voluntary and community organisations’,

as one of ten overall recommendations.

The London Regional Consortium of ChangeUp has approved Phase 1 of a project to explore the issues, problems, gaps and solutions in more detail and make recommendations for change and improvement.

Kairos in Soho will act as the lead body for Phase 1.

The project will be delivered by a Research Team or Consultants, and during Phase 1, the most appropriate lead for Phases II and III will be identified.