Member Article

North East communities benefit from £100m in grants

The Community Foundation Tyne & Wear and Northumberland is celebrating a landmark achievement of awarding over £100m in grants to support causes in the North East.

For three decades the foundation has enriched lives through effective giving and today is recognised as one of the largest and most successful community foundations outside of North America.

The community foundation model has been adopted around the world and, in the UK, the Community Foundation Tyne & Wear and Northumberland has built a community endowment of over £67 million which enables grant-making through hundreds of different named funds established by donors, each with a different cause and area of support.

Rob Williamson, Chief Executive of the Community Foundation Tyne & Wear and Northumberland, explains: “Our success is largely down to a core group of successful North East business people, and leaders from the charity and public sectors, who saw the potential of establishing a community foundation in our region. Through their personal networks, they were able to grow the Foundation and spread our message throughout the business community, and other movers and shakers in our region.

“This year marks a landmark achievement for the foundation as we celebrate a milestone of awarding more than £100 million to support charities and community groups in the North East. What makes this achievement most remarkable is that as a small grants organisation our average grant size is £5,000, which means the story behind our achievement involves hundreds of inspirational charities and voluntary organisations, and the donors who helped to make this possible.

“We work with philanthropists and their families, businesses and charitable trusts, as well as partnering with national funders who tap into our local geographical and issue-based knowledge to deliver regional funding programmes in the North East.”

Through the Community Foundation, £100m of grants has helped projects that tackle inequality, support people with housing and homelessness, invest in education, arts culture and heritage, care for the environment and encourage healthy living, and enable young people to take up opportunities.

David Sheepshanks CBE DL, Chair of UK Community Foundations, the national umbrella body, adds:

“Community foundations across the UK are making a huge impact at a local level. Small grants can be seen as casting a shallow and wide net, but with regional knowledge we can dig deeper into the root of the issues that our communities face, and whilst this cannot solve issues it can change the lives of many local people.

“Through £100m of grants, the Community Foundation Tyne & Wear and Northumberland is a leading force in our network, shining a light on the causes in our community that need our support, and I think this local knowledge is the key to its success.”

Ashley Winter OBE, Chair of the Community Foundation Tyne & Wear and Northumberland and a fund-holder with the Winter Family Fund said:

“Fund-holders trust in our reputation, our on-the-ground knowledge and our sound investments but we have never been a ‘give us your money and go away’ organisation. Our donors are at the heart of what we do – we are philanthropy advisors not fundraisers – and we invite donors to go on a journey with us, and connect them with causes that matter to them.

“But we need to be stronger still if we are to tackle vital issues now, and in the future, and that is why endowment building has been our priority from the start. Endowment ensures sustainability and provides the status and independence we need. Importantly, the endowment is a vital community asset, here for generations to come and often immune to changes in government policy on the charitable sector.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Adam Lopardo .