TransCap Initiative, Consultant, UK
Hannah Paterson founded the PGM Community back in 2020 after completing a Churchill Fellowship in the subject. Her fellowship took her to South Africa and the USA where she met with over 40 practitioners, through her research she developed the report- Grassroots Grantmaking: Embedding Participatory Approaches in Funding. After completing her Fellowship she gathered a small group of PGM practitioners (many of whom make up this faculty) and the PGM Community was born. Hannah facilitated the community for the first two years and then handed it over to an elected Accountability Circle and other volunteers within the space who have stewarded it with care into the amazing place it is today. Beyond the PGM Community Hannah spent 8 years working for the National Lottery Community Fund where she designed, delivered and supported several participatory programmes including the Leaders with Lived Experience Programme and Mind Our Future. She also acts as a consultant supporting various funders and philanthropists to develop and embed participatory approaches. In her day job Hannah has moved away from philanthropy working as Head of Community Activation at TransCap Initiative which aims to bring systems thinking to the world of sustainable finance and impact investing. She started her career in the Disabled People’s movement campaigning for the rights of disabled students in higher and further education across the UK. She currently lives in Manchester, UK with her wife, twin boys and a pond full of frogs.
