Paul Hamlyn Foundation (PHF) has made grants totalling £1.2 million to six organisations in the latest round of the Backbone Fund.

The recipients are: The Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition, Council for Wales of Voluntary Youth Services, Counterpoints Arts, Institute for Voluntary Action Research, Museums Association and ShareAction.

The aim of the funding is to champion the vital role that these organisations play in building resilience within the sectors in which PHF has an interest. The Fund is unrestricted and makes a lasting commitment of up to £50,000 annually for five years to each organisation.

Moira Sinclair, Chief Executive, Paul Hamlyn Foundation said, ‘Fundamental principles such as trust based grant-making, long-term core support, and an acknowledgement that policy development and advocacy have value are at the heart of this portfolio. Since we started the Backbone Fund three years ago, these grants have helped to support a growing number of sector-critical organisations and, in doing so, the wider civil society eco-system.’

According to PHF the The Backbone Fund is part of a wider response to back civil society and its leaders, enabling those involved to resource core activities, fund essential posts and to access reliable support for a significant period of time, free from political cycles.

Almir Koldzic and Aine O’Brien, Co-Directors, Counterpoints Arts, commented, ‘This Backbone grant will provide our team and many partners with precious, long term support to build imaginative cross-sector collaborations in relation to migration and displacement. This unusual way of funding also demonstrates PHF’s commitment to listening and responding in innovative ways to the very real challenges facing the arts and voluntary sector today.’

For more information on the Backbone Fund visit: phf.org.uk