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 and the UK’s fourth largest funding body.
During 20/21 we have supported Worcestershire’s communities by:
- Distributing £750,000 of funding to support 150+ community projects across the county in response to the pandemic 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
- Giving out £450,000 of funding to support communities suffering longer Covid impacts including mental health & wellbeing, disability, isolation and domestic abuse.
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
£ 3500000 +
Total grants
(2013-21)
£ 1500000
Total grants (2020/2021)
£ 4285
Average Grant size
350 +
Number of grants
(2020/2021)
Feedback
St Paul’s Hostel“We are so grateful for the support that we have received from the foundation. The funding has made and continues to make a huge difference to the homeless community. We were able to respond quickly to the calls from government to ‘Get Everyone In’ and lockdown that there is no doubt, this helped reduce the spread of COVID-19 amongst the homeless community.”
Clare Thomas CEO at Worcester and Malvern Hills Age UK“We were delighted to receive notification that we had been awarded £3,400 from the COVID grant scheme. Many of our clients are in urgent need of human contact again and to be supported to re–engage with activities in their local communities. This grant will help us to do that, by providing opportunities for them to come together to participate in gentle exercise sessions and tea and chat. It will also mean that we can support particularly vulnerable groups in this way, for example people with dementia.”
Nightstop“Our project is a long-standing project in the community which has an excellent track record of delivering positive outcomes for young people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. The funding from Worcestershire Community Foundation has allowed us to made adaptations and additions to the vital work that we were already doing to meet the challenges posed by the COVID19 pandemic. The project will now be able to continue due to this funding.”
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.”
Citizens Advice Bureau Wyre Forest“This grant from WCF means an awful lot to us; we are desperately trying to meet demand and ensure no one falls through the gap. Our volunteers are working flat out often doing double shifts and more and paid staff are working or free on their days off. We are truly blessed in Wyre forest to have such a dedicated committed team.
I can assure you every penny will be spent wisely.”
Our Supporters
