Our approach and values
Our mission
Our mission is: “to support a wide range of innovative cultural and sporting activities for all, which celebrate the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and which will leave a lasting legacy in communities throughout the United Kingdom.”
Our approach
We have a distinctive approach that is reflected by:
- our fully-independent status
- our mission: the legacy of the London 2012 Games
- our ‘no frontiers’ mentality: we cross the traditional boundaries between, for example, sport and the arts, to create genuinely joined-up initiatives
- our networks of funders and fully-representative Regional Advisory Groups, who ensure that our programmes reflect regional and local circumstances.
Values
We are committed to achieving UK wide coverage for our programmes, and to reaching diverse communities.
These goals can only be achieved through partnerships and joint action, and through listening to, and learning from, the wide range of interested organisations and individuals throughout the country.
We are fully committed to the following principles in our grant making, and we require all of our funded programmes to demonstrate how these principles are central to their approach:
Promoting accessibility
We believe that accessible services are those that people can use relatively easily and inexpensively, and that are sensitive to the different needs and cultures of the people using them.
Valuing cultural diversity
We value cultural diversity by recognising that people have different needs, beliefs, values and abilities and that those differences need to be both respected and promoted. We recognise that having a diverse public face can help us build trust and confidence among the varied communities we seek to fund. A diverse workforce can also provide a richer mix of ideas and talents. We also believe we are more efficient and effective when our decision-making structures are reflective of the diverse views of society.
Promoting participation
Our policies, processes and programmes must be developed on the basis of real need. This means that the people who will be affected by them should be involved in their development. We know that there are groups that are traditionally under-represented in consultation processes. We commit to working in partnership with those groups to establish structures that will help them to take a more active role in shaping the work that we do. In this way we will be able to encourage participation, openness and honesty.
Promoting equality of opportunity
We recognise that some groups commonly experience poorer access to employment, have fewer training opportunities and are under-represented in the workforce, particularly at senior level. In addition, we know that not all groups have the same access to services and their experiences of receiving services may be poorer. We believe that in order to level the playing field we may need to treat people differently to help them have the same chance to take part in employment and service opportunities.
Promoting inclusive communities
We believe a cohesive community is one where people feel they belong, where their lives are appreciated and valued, people have similar life opportunities and strong and positive relationships develop between people who are from different backgrounds.
Reducing disadvantage and exclusion
We will fund initiatives that deal with the causes of disadvantage and exclusion, and target our money on initiatives that promote inclusion of groups at greatest risk of being disadvantaged and excluded. Our understanding of what “disadvantaged” and “excluded” mean will take into account such factors as people’s experience of discrimination.
