A significant shift is taking place in the UK’s approach to public service reform. With the creation of the Office for the Impact Economy in 2025, the Government is signalling a commitment to mobilising investment, innovation, and cross‑sector collaboration to build services that are more relational, preventative, and grounded in the communities they serve. While Demos’ recent report The Quiet Revolution contains no explicit reference to faith groups, the ideas at its heart speak directly to the strengths and lived experience of churches, dioceses, and other faith‑based organisations.
A natural fit for relational reform
The report argues that meaningful reform depends on person‑centred, place‑rooted and relationship‑rich approaches to support. Faith communities have quietly modelled this approach for hundreds of years. Across the country, ministers and lay leaders accompany individuals and families through crisis, transition, celebration and grief. Places of worship offer spaces where relationships form across generations and where people find dignity, connection and belonging. These are the very assets that the impact economy is seeking to unlock.
The report argues that meaningful reform depends on person‑centred, place‑rooted and relationship‑rich approaches to support. Faith communities have quietly modelled this approach for hundreds of years. Across the country, ministers and lay leaders accompany individuals and families through crisis, transition, celebration and grief. Places of worship offer spaces where relationships form across generations and where people find dignity, connection and belonging. These are the very assets that the impact economy is seeking to unlock.
Scaling mission‑aligned work through innovative finance
Many faith‑based organisations are already delivering outcomes aligned with local priorities. For example, helping to reduce isolation, support wellbeing, strengthening families and enabling people to rebuild their lives.
Many faith‑based organisations are already delivering outcomes aligned with local priorities. For example, helping to reduce isolation, support wellbeing, strengthening families and enabling people to rebuild their lives.
Impact investment offers a way to scale this work sustainably without compromising its mission. With appropriate support in evaluation and design, faith organisations could become investable propositions that attract philanthropic and public capital while retaining their relational core.
The social value of Church of England buildings alone was put at £55bn in 2020 and, if other faith denominations and faith groups were added, the value of faith groups to the UK economy is clearly significant. Imagine if this pre-existing value was properly resourced to deliver more impactful and sustainable change.
A convening role that others cannot replicate
Another theme running throughout the report is the importance of collaborative design.
Another theme running throughout the report is the importance of collaborative design.
Faith institutions have a unique ability to bring together stakeholders who may otherwise never meet. Their congregations are often the most diverse groups in a neighbourhood. Their buildings provide trusted, neutral spaces and their leaders are embedded within the rhythms of local life.
This positions faith communities as powerful facilitators of co‑design processes to help shape public service models that are genuinely grounded in lived experience.
Catalytic capital rooted in values
Blended finance models combine philanthropic, public and private investment to de‑risk innovation. Faith‑based trusts, legacies and donor networks could play a catalytic role, unlocking larger flows of investment into community‑rooted work. For faith organisations, this represents a unique alignment of financial stewardship, mission, and social impact.
Blended finance models combine philanthropic, public and private investment to de‑risk innovation. Faith‑based trusts, legacies and donor networks could play a catalytic role, unlocking larger flows of investment into community‑rooted work. For faith organisations, this represents a unique alignment of financial stewardship, mission, and social impact.
A moment of opportunity
The Quiet Revolution described in the report is not simply a shift in funding mechanisms. It is a shift in mindset towards cross governmental collaboration and a focus on human connection. To work this through to its fullest extent requires engagement with faith. Faith organisations need to be seen for the value they already bring and for the manner in which they weave in and through communities and to be recognised as key co-creators at this time.
The Quiet Revolution described in the report is not simply a shift in funding mechanisms. It is a shift in mindset towards cross governmental collaboration and a focus on human connection. To work this through to its fullest extent requires engagement with faith. Faith organisations need to be seen for the value they already bring and for the manner in which they weave in and through communities and to be recognised as key co-creators at this time.
The impact economy will develop with or without the involvement of faith communities. But if the Government chooses to engage with faith groups, the impact economy will develop with deeper roots, stronger relationships, and a clearer sense of the human flourishing it is ultimately meant to serve.
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