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
Simply LimitlessThe WCF funding has allowed us to purchase video equipment which has been crucial for Simply Limitless to continue operating and providing vital support to our community. Loneliness is a pandemic in its own right that has only been made worse with Covid-19. Being able to connect to people virtually and provide them support and encouragement via our groups, and to help people keep physically active and engaged is so important. We have been able to support people form toddlers to older people and everyone in between by running our groups online via services such as Zoom, YouTube and Facebook. Thank you for the support.
Ourside Youth CenterThe grant provided by WCF enabled us to react quickly and redesign our services during COVID-19. This meant we could respond to the needs of the young people and their families in our community. It meant they still had a consistent place for support by people they knew and trusted. With the situation changing constantly it meant we were able to stay in contact with the young people and help the navigate their feelings and experiences so they knew that someone was always looking out for them.
Young People Comments
‘Ourside has made lockdown a lot less daunting and the posts have been super helpful and up lifting”
‘ The letters and packages gave me something to do and brightened my day’
‘I’m glad we are still in contact because we help each other with any struggles. It’s really helped me take my mind off issues and have fun’
‘ I have been able to stay connected to familiar faces and keep some sort of routine’
Worcestershire For the Love of Scrubs“Our thanks for the fantastic donation you were able to make when we were at a time of greatest need.”
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.”
Nigel Huddleston MP & Minister for Civil Society‘The Worcestershire Community Foundation has done great work for many years, but I have been particularly impressed with your response to the Coronavirus pandemic. Those grants across the county are very welcome, and on behalf of all my constituents may I take this opportunity to thank you and your colleagues for all your work these past few months.’
Our Supporters
