Funding Service Design: growing Service Design practice through a grants programme

This paper presents the findings from a case study of a grants programme aimed at growing service design practice within a mental health network. The case study employed a ‘grants plus’ model, offering both money and coaching support, to promote the use of service design and build ‘communities of practice’ around this common approach within the organisation. The authors reflect on the findings from two grants programmes and share the advantages and challenges of building a design community through a funded model. This offers learning for those trying to scale Service Design practice across organisations or communities, as well as anyone trying to encourage the use of the process with other teams or organisations where there is a perceived power imbalance.