SNG’s Winter Wishes Fund shows how a winter grants programme can rapidly engage colleagues, turn small microgrants into high-value social impact, and reach communities when support matters most.
What started as a £20k pilot has become an over-subscribed, successful grant-giving programme.
Key Benefits for SNG
- Huge social value — £7.1m in social impact generated from £50k in microgrants.
- Cross-organisation engagement — Winter Wishes created a strong emotional connection to SNG’s grantmaking across the entire organisation.
- Impactful grant-giving at speed & scale – made possible by ActionFunder, enabling SNG to distribute over 60 grants before Christmas
- Rich, real-time impact data — 155 updates, videos and images shared by non-profits, powering internal storytelling, employee engagement and social value reporting.
- A replicable, high-value model of community investment — SNG are now building on last year’s success, with a 2025 Winter Wishes Fund of £50k.
A winter grants programme that unlocked organisation-wide buy-in
In 2024, SNG launched the Winter Wishes Fund. Designed specifically for the festive season, the fund provides grants of up to £1,000 to support non-profits delivering vital projects for those who may find winter challenging.
From hot meals and wellbeing drop-ins to Christmas outings, neighbour-to-neighbour support and community events, the fund ensures that vulnerable people who might otherwise feel isolated, lonely or excluded from the season’s joy, can experience warmth, connection and support over winter.
Winter Wishes immediately struck a chord across the organisation. The grants and social value team were struck by just how urgently communities needed support and by the passion of the people stepping up to provide it.
ActionFunder’s engaging, visual application format helped bring projects to life – enabling the team to share real stories, photos and videos with other departments across the organisation.
Colleagues could instantly see the value of the initiative. As a result, departments with underspend stepped forward to contribute, growing the fund from £20k to £50k.
This created:
- A deeper emotional connection to SNG’s community investment
- Engagement from teams who had not previously been involved
- A shared sense of purpose across the organisation
“Winter Wishes created a level of emotional connection to our grant giving, fostering strong support. It’s a time of year when people naturally think about doing the right thing and supporting others. That made it easy for our colleagues to rally around Winter Wishes.”
Deborah Williams, Social Value Manager at SNG
Delivering fast, meaningful impact
The success of Winter Wishes relied on speed. With the festive period just weeks away, SNG needed to distribute all grants before Christmas. Using ActionFunder’s fast, streamlined grant management system, SNG was able to:
- Guarantee over 60 grants paid out before Christmas
- Reduce admin time for finance and grants teams
- Enable community partners to deliver projects immediately
“Without ActionFunder, it would have been almost impossible to get the grants out before Christmas. It’s a short month, finance teams are stretched, and the platform made something tricky feel seamless.”
Deborah Williams, Social Value Manager at SNG
Real stories that brought the work to life
One of the biggest internal wins came from the rich flow of stories and content generated through ActionFunder. The fund received 155 impact updates, including videos, images and first-hand testimonials.
“The updates, images and videos from funded groups were incredible. We shared them in an internal webinar and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house! It allowed people to really see and feel the impact, bringing our purpose to life in a way that stats on a page never could.”
Deborah Williams, Social Value Manager at SNG
These updates were also shared in newsletters and internal channels, helping colleagues feel emotionally connected to the impact of their work.
For a housing provider in a sector often under scrutiny, the Winter Wishes Fund became a powerful way to shine a light on the positive social value being created.
A high-value community investment model worth repeating
Using ActionFunder’s bespoke impact reporting and integrated HACT measures, SNG could quantify the social value generated: an estimated £7.1m of social impact. A powerful demonstration of the value of small, well-targeted microgrants!
Because of its clear success, both internally and within the community, SNG secured another £50k Winter Wishes budget this year. The fund has become a standout example of:
- How small, fast microgrants can deliver huge social impact
- Community impact that is easy to communicate and celebrate
- A meaningful driver of organisational purpose and pride
Community Impact in 2024
£58,675 distributed in microgrants
64 projects funded
13,544 estimated beneficiaries
£7.1m social impact generated
And just a few of the many outputs…
4,500 toys donated
2,936 hot cooked breakfasts
613 Christmas & New Year meals & community events
700 food hampers delivered
…And much more!
