What is Worcestershire Community Foundation?
We are an independent charity and the Community Foundation for Worcestershire. We are part of a national network of 47 Community Foundations, one of the fastest growing philanthropic movements in the UK.
STOP PRESS….OUR RESPONSE TO COVID!
One year on from the start of the pandemic, we have supported Worcestershire’s communities by:
- Distributing £750,000 of funding to support 150+ community projects across the county in response to the crisis
- Distributing £240,000 of funding to support vulnerable families and individuals in the Wychavon, Worcester City and Malvern Hills areas via local community groups, schools and foodbanks
- Providing seed funding to support key local infrastructure projects including Mental Health, Digital and Youth projects
- Raising £100,000 + of local funding from generous donors and supporters which will go towards future recovery of the county
We would like to say a huge thank you to all the organisations and individuals who have helped us to support Worcestershire at this very difficult time; we are looking forward to continuing to support the voluntary and community sector during the long recovery period that lies ahead.
What we do
We are a charitable hub for the whole county – dedicated to helping to ensure that Worcestershire is a place to thrive by supporting and providing a voice for the voluntary and community sector. During the pandemic we have to date given out Covid response grants totalling over £0.9 million to more than 200 local organisations.
Who are we?
Our people are one of the most important elements of our work in Worcestershire
We are a streamlined organisation which operates in a very lean way to ensure that our overheads are kept to a minimum, enabling us to dedicate maximum resource to our grant programmes to benefit the County.
Our team comprises a voluntary board of 11 local trustees working with a part-time Development Director. We are proud to have a long-standing President Patrick Holcroft, who is the Lord Lieutenant of Worcestershire, and a number of well-known voluntary Patrons who support us in many ways. Many of our trustees and patrons sit on the boards of other local charities; all our team are long-term residents of Worcestershire and have in-depth knowledge and understanding of the county and its needs.
Our grant administration and back office functions are outsourced to Malvern-based organisation Community First part of the ACRE network, who are well established in supporting the voluntary and community sectors across Worcestershire and surrounding counties.
Our Impact
£ 2000000 +
Total grants
(2013-19)
£ 650000
Total grants (2020)
£ 4333
Average Grant size
150 +
Number of grants
(2020)
Feedback
Stepway“This was wonderful news…the WCF funding will help us continue our work in supporting veterans who are struggling in civilian life. We informed the veterans who participate in the outdoor projects and you can hear the delight in their voices, already making plans. This will really benefit our veterans who are struggling with mental health issues, and connecting everyone who is involved in the enjoyment of outdoor learning, nature and the environment.”
Like U“We have nothing but praise for WCF. You are the first ones that believed in us, and you were the initial push we needed to succeed. We will never forget what you’ve done for us, and we really hope this is not the end of our journey.”
Faith Sanderson CEO of Worcester Community Trust“With hundreds of women and children supported through our domestic abuse support service DAWN each year, we are delighted to be able to offer the Survivors Network: a peer led network to build confidence, skills and offer support to families. Thank you to Worcestershire Community Foundation for making this vital work possible!”
Your Ideas Youth & Community project“Thanks to funding received from WCF we were able to continue to run our Spectrum project working with children and young people with high functioning autism. We were able to run 5 weeks of summer clubs open to all 165 members. We were able to purchase the necessary cleaning and hygiene products to keep our building and work Covid secure. The funding also allowed us to increase our staff hours where we simply would not have been able to, and at points we had 4 full time workers. We were able to purchase equipment for young people who were unable to make the sessions – due to shielding or reluctance due to high anxiety – to keep them engaged with our work.”
Wildgoose Rural Training“I cannot fault the response from yourselves, the reactivity of wanting to help organisations in such a quick turnaround has meant the world to us, and arguably we wouldn’t have been able to open and kept everyone safe as much as we have without your help. Not only have you enabled us to respond to the pandemic so quickly, but you have been key in restoring normality to our students in such a short period of time.”
Our Supporters
