Menu

General Information

About the Community Foundation

 

The Community Foundation is an independent charity dedicated to strengthening local communities across Staffordshire and Shropshire. We aim to tackle issues of disadvantage and exclusion through the building of permanent endowments and the allocation of grants. The Foundation is one of more than 40 Community Foundations throughout the United Kingdom, and we are a member of ‘UKCF‘, who promote closer working and opportunities for all Foundations throughout the country.

Every county in England has access to a local Community Foundation, although some Foundations will cover 2 or more counties, such as Lancashire & Merseyside, and Staffordshire & Shropshire.  There are national Community Foundations in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Grants awarded by Impact Category in Staffordshire 2022 - 2023 Financial Year

  • Advance people’s physical and mental health, wellbeing and safety
  • Improve life skills, education, employability and enterprise
  • Maximise ability to strengthen community cohesion and build social capacity
  • Promote reduction of isolation and disadvantage and access to local services
  • Other

Our Goals

The Community Foundation for Staffordshire started in 2001 as the Staffordshire Community Foundation, but we did not award our first grant until 2008, with the launch of the Grassroots Grants scheme. By April of 2011 we had built an endowment of just over £2m , and by 2016 that figure had risen to more than £5m in endowment funds.  Over that time we made several ad-hoc awards to organisations based in Shropshire, and so in 2016 we formally extended our reach, operating under the name Community Foundation for Shropshire, to offer funding schemes, endowment building opportunities and our ‘We Love’ place based funds.

As we are locally based we understand our local community. We identify local needs and mobilise local resources. We aim to work closely with other support organisations across the county and with local authorities, for the betterment of the county, whilst remaining non-political.

As a registered charity and a company we have a board of trustees, who are also directors.  They are drawn from across the county and have a wide variety of backgrounds and experience, from banking and finance to business to work in the voluntary sector, to ensure that we are able to represent and understand the views of different sections of our county.

We also distribute grants on behalf of Government, national charities and public organisations, as well as private donors and philanthropists and other trusts and charities. We have comprehensive grant-making policies and procedures, combined with extensive knowledge and understanding of the local community and its needs, therefore ensuring grants are targeted responsibility and carefully.

We have a range of quality marks, including ISO9001, and accreditations from UKCF and the Good Business Charter.  These are awarded based on meeting a high standard, in on our grant giving, our work with partners, our ethos, and our reach into our communities.