UK Community Foundations

One of the things that sets community foundations apart is their passion to learn from place-based grants in order to shape future work and influence change at a local and national level. That's why we hosted today's online roundtable with community groups from #Birmingham, #Manchester and #Liverpool to hear about their experiences, challenges and future goals while working with UKCF to tackle #AirPollution in urban areas, in collaboration with Clean Air Fund. The learning-focused initiative is seeing groups in large cities around the country create and experiment with bottom-up solutions to tackle one of the biggest drivers of respiratory illnesses, air pollution, and improve understanding and activism around improving #AirQuality. We look forward to sharing these learnings soon and working with others from various sectors to nurture new and existing resources in this area. #UKPhilanthropy #Local #SDGs

Could you, or someone you know, become the new Chief Executive Officer of UKCF? Our search has begun for a new leader, who will: - Advocate the passionate work of community foundations at a national level. - Build strong relationships with stakeholders, policy makers, politicians and leaders across sectors. - Provide our remote team with values-driven, inspirational leadership to plan and deliver our strategy and objectives for our national membership network. Learn more about the role, which closes to applicants on 1st September, here: https://lnkd.in/ekeSCK-Z #Leadership #CEO #UKJob

Thanks to Community Foundation Northern Ireland for hosting the UKCF team in Northern Ireland this week! Following some of our own team sessions, we enjoyed catching up on what's happening at CFNI and learning about some of the latest work they've been focusing on to support Northern Ireland communities, before meeting with one of the fantastic groups they support. 🙌 Being the first time for some of us visiting the country, the trip to Stormont was an added bonus! #TeamDays #UKPhilanthropy #CommunityFoundations

💡 Have you taken a look at Institute For Voluntary Action Research’s latest report? It explores how open and trusting funders approach the question of impact. The report uses conversations to gather qualitative information for analysis and learning: “Our ambition is to develop our understanding and build evidence on our initial assumption that giving unrestricted funding can be transformational to communities.” Having signed up to the eight commitments as 'open and trusting' grant makers, we welcome these learnings around developing 'a realistic and meaningful approach to assessing impact' and ensuring funding practices are reflective and collaborative in order to progress positive social change. 📖 https://lnkd.in/e7zqeiVz #Philanthropy #MakeADifference #Impact

During disasters it is often the smaller, grassroots charities who are the first to step up for communities in need and who offer long-term vital services 🙌 So this #SmallCharityWeek I’d like to appreciate small charities who make a BIG impact 💪 Thanks to UK Community Foundations and its network of 47 local community foundations with invaluable local knowledge, more than 14,000 incredible grassroots groups received more than £76 million in National Emergencies Trust Coronavirus Appeal grants, enabling them to go above and beyond for those in need ❤️ 🌱Groups like Warrington Youth Zone (funded by Cheshire Community Foundation), who ran a wealth of activities for children during lockdowns, reinforce why the Trust will always aim to fund local groups first in the aftermath of UK emergencies. 📝It is fitting this week that the publication of UKGrantmaking 2024 (a collab between 360Giving, London Funders, Association of Charitable Foundations, UK Community Foundations & ACO - The Association of Charitable Organisations) using 360Giving's data on grant funding in the UK reflects the impact of the network and how the National Emergencies Trust continues to work with community foundations & VCS Emergencies Partnership to bolster #disasterpreparedness, so no-one is left behind when the worst happens.

🎉 Early bird tickets are live! 🎉 We're thrilled to invite you to our upcoming conference 'Foundations for the future: Investing in communities' which will take place in Harrogate between Tuesday 8th and Thursday 10th October 2024. While the full programme will be available later this summer, you can find more details about the event, what our previous conferences have been like and a link to the discounted ticket page below to save your spot. Thanks to our headline sponsors CCLA Investment Management and to our other sponsors who will be revealed soon. 🙌 https://lnkd.in/eTQftjxB #CommunityFoundations #Philanthropy #CommunityInvestment

Many philanthropists recognised for their hard work are often unknown to the wider public but are valued by the amazing projects they support and community foundations they connect with. For those already in the public spotlight, it's equally as special to recognise when they go above and beyond to help communities, just like these two... 👏 Community Foundation Wales Ryan Reynolds Rob McElhenney

We are so excited about the new 'UK Grantmaking' launch this week, set up by 360Giving, in collaboration with Association of Charitable Foundations, ACO - The Association of Charitable Organisations, London Funders, CCLA Investment Management and Pears Foundation and UK Community Foundations. UK Grantmaking will be the 'definitive annual publication on grant funding in the UK. 360Giving explains that the new initiative will "consider trends, as well as provide a platform of base data that could then be used to “deep dive” into specific areas." Visit the new platform here: https://lnkd.in/eHCX7R3j #GrantMaking #Philanthropy #UKInsights

We are proud to announce our new multi-year partnership with Evouchers, who will be supporting our new Care Leavers Programme. The programme, launched in April this year, is a first of-its-kind scheme specifically for care-experienced young adults on a nationwide level.   Evouchers specialises in creating secure, flexible voucher systems enabling organisations to support, reward and motivate their communities. The organisation supports local authorities, social housing organisations, charities, schools and food banks to distribute millions of vouchers each year.  17 community foundations across England are taking part in the Care Leavers Programme, which is being match funded by local donations. The £3.6 million scheme will run over three years. How is this programme different? It will enable community foundations to work collaboratively with local authorities, the public sector and other charitable organisations to provide practical and holistic support to individual care leavers, building up cross-sector foundations for longer-term support .  UKCF and Evouchers are delighted to be working together in this critical field. Both organisations are passionate about improving the experiences of young care leavers and have a shared passion for, and commitment to, collaboration across all sectors. #Philanthropy #CareLeavers #ImpactInvestment

Congratulations to Tina Costello OBE, whose incredible contributions as CEO of Heart of England Community Foundation have been recognised with an OBE!