At the Community Foundation we support your local communities through the allocation of grants via our various funding programmes. These include funding streams for community groups and organisations, funding for individuals along with other initiatives including emergency grants during the Covid-19 pandemic and Shropshire floods. Here you can find a number of successful projects that we have funded over the years by expanding the menus below.
During the Coronavirus pandemic, we launched an appeal via JustGiving to raise funds that would enable us to support local communities that were suffering from the effects of the virus. We raised over £1,800,000 through our JustGiving appeal and funding from the National Emergencies Trust as well as additional funding from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). Below you can find just a handful of examples from the 390 successful organisations and how we have been supporting local heroes during the crisis.
Scrubs for Stoke began producing sets of scrubs for NHS practitioners and staff who were working at the University Hospital North Midlands to address a servere shortage in scrubs for NHS staff due to the pandemic. The group were award a grant via our emergency grants programme towards the costs of their work.
“From a standing start Scrubs for Stoke have rapidly grown a network of volunteers all with the same passion – to sew and deliver scrubs to the healthcare workers of Royal Stoke and County Hospitals. Due to the Corvid-19 pandemic there is an urgent need for at least 2000 sets of scrubs which are worn underneath PPE. Founding member Laura McColl and her team have praised the people of Stoke-on-Trent, Stafford and Staffordshire for their unwavering support.”
Anstice Community Trust in Telford launched a community support project in response to the Covid-19 pandemic that would help alleviate the stress and issues facing local residents who were in isolation. The group’s volunteers set out to collect and deliver prescriptions and food parcels to those in need of support, reaching over 75 people in just the first few days and over 150 once the project was up and running. The group were awarded two grants from our Emergency grants programme that would help to sustain their work and enable them to reach as many people as possible.
Eccleshall Cares was created as a support group for local residents in response to the pandemic. The group created their own website that enabled those in the area to request support online, further reducing the risks of contact with others by providing this service. The group would then deliver food packages, prescriptions and other essential supplies to those who were in isolation. Eccleshall Cares successfully applied for funding from our Emergency Grants programme and this enabled them to cover volunteer costs and supported their fantastic community work.
Challenging Perceptions are a community organisation based in Telford. The group aims to empower young adults to explore and address mental health and wellbeing. In light of the Coronavirus outbreak, the group were awarded a grant via our emergency Grants programme that funded the production and distribution of activity packs for young people in their local area. These packs were filled with various activities that sought to help their beneficiaries with issues relating to mental-health and general wellbeing.
Let Us Play provide short breaks for South Staffordshire children on behalf of South Staffordshire Council. After the pandemic caused the nation to go into lockdown, the group switched to hosting remote engagement activities for vulnerable and isolated children. Alongside these online activity sessions, Let Us Play have produced numerous activity boxes to be distributed to local communities that provide a host of activities and treats.
“After a frantic few days making up craft packs, sourcing items needed, and packing, our first wave of activity boxes for disabled children from South Staffordshire, are being delivered today. The boxes include a letter from Let Us Play, several activity packs, Easter eggs that we didn’t get to give, books, sticker sheets, and a kit to plant a giant sun flower. We hope the packs will let the children know we are thinking about them and help the parents to entertain what can be very challenging children and young people for a little while.”
Cerebral Palsy Mid Staffs successfully applied for funding via our Emergency Grants programme to enable them to purchase additional equipment and resources that would allow them to continue providing crucial services to vulnerable people across mid-Staffordshire. Since the pandemic, the group have been busy maintaining regular contact with their beneficiaries via telephone to ensure they are safe and well during isolation. Trough these phone calls, the group created various activities and support packs based around feedback received on what their beneficiaries would like.
After successfully applying for a grant through the Community Foundations for Staffordshire’s Emergency Grants programme, Cheadle Citizens Advice Bureau were able to use that funding towards delivering the CAB service whilst staff were working from home. CAB provide support and crucial advice to local people across Staffordshire Moorlands and they continued to adapt their services to enable them to continue supporting local communities whilst working from home.
“Citizens Advice Cheadle are very grateful for the grant received from the Emergency Covid-19 appeal to expand our provision of essential advice and support to our community. Since lockdown, our team of staff and volunteers have taken huge numbers of phone calls from clients desperate to find out what their rights are at work and whether they can claim benefits to ensure there’s an income coming into their households.”
Beakthru’ Support Services ere awarded funding via the Emergency Grants Programme for their ‘Mow Cop Older People’s Luncheon Club’ community initiative. The project aimed to provide a friendly befriending service to vulnerable local residents that included regular telephone calls and food deliveries. This is a great example of how local charitable organisations were able to adapt their work to tackle social issues brought about by the Covid-19 Pandemic.
Osnosh have been providing crucial services to their community through the preparation of hot meals with fresh ingredients that are then delivered to local people in isolation. The people who were benefiting from the weekly hot meal, box of groceries and the opportunity for company and conversation stopped receiving this support when the crisis began as we had to immediately suspend these services. In addition, many of our volunteers began shielding at home and were no longer able to participate. The group applied for funding through our Emergency Grants Programme for PPE equipment to help protect their staff and volunteers and additional costs associated with their work. Through the purchase of additional PPE equipment, this valuable service was able to continue providing for the community.
Through making and distributing nutritious food packages to local vulnerable residents, Osnosh has provided vital support to local people. We are proud to connect with such an amazing community initiative!
PPE 4 Community launched their ‘Take the Lead Stoke Community Care’ project in light of the Covid-19 crisis to deliver PPE equipment and food supplies to local elderly, BAME and unemployed residents.
The project was inspired by an article in the Sentinel in April about the care home manager at Safe Harbor who stated that; at the time PPE Items were in high demand and short supply to his care homes. This message was repeated by many elderly care homes in the region. The project management team of Paul Smith and Robin Chakanyuka donated hundreds of PPE items to 520 elderly beneficiaries in the community and welcomed referrals from elderly care homes and elderly community projects and charities who required PPE support.
In response to the Covid-19 crisis, Bilbrook Indicatives Hub carried out two activities at different ends of the spectrum of helping others to eat. Their hot food provision service focuses on providing freshly prepared and delivered hot meals daily to the elderly and vulnerable within the local community, this started at the beginning of lockdown, and the group still continue to provide it now. Many of the elderly within the community are still afraid to leave their homes or have lost their physical strength to do the simplest of tasks they found easy before lockdown, like go out shopping or eat in a cafe. When lockdown restrictions eased the group surveyed all of the people they provided meals to and 92% still wanted to continue with the service.
“The Food for Familes Project: was an activity working with local schools to identify families who would struggle to eat throughout the 6 weeks holiday. We were able to buy food, store it, create packages and distribute from a central location, all with social distancing measures in place for collection. Creating and running this activity has helped us to further identify additional needs within in the community and run further projects and start to build other projects too.”
The Community Foundation manages a number of different grants funds that are tailored to cover the various needs of the community and cover the counties of Staffordshire and Shropshire. Each year we award more than £2m in grants to numerous local organisations that provide vital services to our communities. A few examples of previously successful applicants can be found below.
The West chadsmoor Family Centre were awarded a large grant via the European Social Fund in 2019 towards their ‘Moving Forward’ project. The group covers the Cannock Chase area, helping local families and people with various crucial skills that will further their education or employability.
The project ran a number of different educational sessions, with two per week being hosted for their learners. These sessions helped improve confidence and abilities in the learners, covering various subjects such as everyday English and mathematical communication skills. There were also a variety of volunteering opportunities for the learners to take part in during the project.
After successfully applying for a grant via the #iWill fund in 2018, Gaming Potion were able to provide some fantastic opportunities and activities for young people across the Staffordshire Moorlands. The group engages with children and young people, providing informal educational sessions based around different games and activities. Through mixing groups of young people from all ages and walks of life and encouraging team work through group activities, the beneficiaries received a huge boost in confidence, as well as being able to make new and lasting friendships. Along with the various group activities, Gaming Potion hosted numerous craft related activities, encouraging the young people to design and create their own costumes for a trip to the UK Games Expo. Gaming Potion provides a crucial social support service to young people in the Staffordshire Moorlands, helping improve their life skills, confidence and friendships through creative and engaging activities.
The Hive received funding from our Tampon Tax Community Fund in 2018. The grant went towards their Music Tech for Girls project in Shropshire, seeking to connect young women with music technology and ignite possible career aspirations.
“Our Music Tech for Girls programme has offered the opportunity for girls age 13 to 18 years to explore music technology in a relaxed and welcoming environment. The workshops have been led by mostly female role models and each one was split into several areas of interest such as the background of DJing, notable people in the industry, music genres/trends, vocal effects, different pieces of equipment and software, their historical relevance and how they fit into modern music. Parts of the workshops were filmed and photographed to create a promotional video at the end of the project.”
In 2018, Headway North Staffs received funding via the Malam Fund towards their Christmas festivities. Operating across Stoke-on-Trent, the group supports adults and older people with mental health related issues and provide vital services in their community that help tackle issues of social isolation and mental wellbeing. This grant went towards their Christmas 2018 festivities, allowing all the beneficiaries, carers and volunteers to celebrate Christmas together and provide an enjoyable event to end the year with and allow the group to have a more informal session with their members. Christmas can be a difficult time for some of Headway’s members who are suffering with mental health and so the event provided a great opportunity to lift their spirits and remind them that they are supported by a great group of carers and volunteers.
In 2018, Universify were awarded funding via the Children’s Holiday Fund to fund a university experience for young people that would allow them to experience university life. The organisation works with young people who may be at risk of not fulfilling their potential in higher education, and seeks to support them and highlight their abilities. Universify worked with a group of young people from a disadvantaged background in Stoke-on-Trent. At the beginning of the project, 29% of the participants said they were unlikely to pursue higher education. By the end of the project, this figure had dropped to just 8% with the young people having enjoyed a great new experience at Oxford University.
Operating across Staffordshire, Voice of Hope is a community organisation that is tackling issues of modern slavery. In 2018, the group were awarded a grant from the High Sheriff Fund towards a modern slavery conference that sought to raise awareness of the issue that is happening today in our communities around the country. The conference had several guest speakers who were experts in dealing with modern slavery and it was very well attended. Previous projects have done some fantastic, crucial work in tackling modern slavery around the county, including supporting homeless people at risk of falling into slavery through awareness and delivering care packages with essential supplies and information on the support that is available.
Based in Stoke-on-Trent, the Ford Green Hall Museum provides numerous activities during the school summer break that help support local disadvantaged families who are unable to have a summer vacation. The museum hosts various themed events and children’s activities that relieve the pressure from local families and provide the children with engaging, varied activities that are also educational through the differing themes. Some of these included a Shakespeare and Emma Bridgwater themed festivals that included costumed actors and educational events.
The Community Foundation awarded the Staffordshire Regiment Museum a grant towards their ‘Project Brew Up’ in 2018. The aim of the project was to construct refreshment facilities in a historical context, providing an educational exhibition for visitors to the museum, whilst providing refreshments. The design was to replicate the type of canteen used by the Women’s Voluntary Services (WVS) during the second World War, providing food for people who had lost their homes and to emergency workers involved in bombing incidents. This canteen would help demonstrate the historic and vital roles played by civilian volunteers during the conflict and served to enhance the educational experience for school visits to the museum.
East Staffs Care Farming successfully applied for funding from the European Social Fund in 2019 towards their ‘WELLIES 4 Work. Confidence Through Creativity’ project. The main issue that the project sought to engage with was mental health and unemployment in East Staffordshire. Through running numerous courses based around creative arts and other activities, the project helped boost the self-esteem and vital skills of their beneficiaries. During the project, the group introduced the participants to the chance of being able produce and sell a number of different arts and crafts. This included regular short presentations by the participants to the rest of the group on their own choices and what they were creating. The project provided a great boost in confidence an self-esteem for all those involved.
Oulton Abbey Playgroup received funding that helped develop and outdoor learning space for children and young people in their local community. These new facilities would provide some fantastic spaces for many local groups and people, helping to improve their communities.
“The area, although an attractive part of the county, has a number of low income families and a local provision such as this will be an excellent opportunity for them. Within the 10 mile radius there are no similar playgroup nursery facilities that offer the accessibility and creative opportunities for the child’s development that this one does. To have the building within a environmentally stimulating set of grounds in the heart of the village with such a large number of family and children based support groups wanting to use the facility evenings and weekends as well as the nursery itself during the standard day. It will be such an immense asset to the whole community.”
In December 2016, the Community Foundation for Staffordshire supported Alice Charity’s Christmas appeal to support local disadvantaged families in their communities. The Foundation donated 400 presents to the Newcastle-under-Lyme based charity that would be distributed to children in deprived areas of Stoke-on-Trent! Alice is a local charity which supports children and families within the communities of Stoke-On-Trent and Newcastle-Under-Lyme, in times of crisis.
Fegg Hayes Futures received Comic Relief Funding in June 2018 via the Community Foundation, to support the groups activities in supporting their community through various activities aimed at teaching new life skills to their members.
We heard from one of their attendees in their monitoring report, “Following an illness, I decided to finish work and take some time out. To make best use of this time I searched for recreational courses. I enrolled on a “Cook and Eat Well’ course in September 2018. On the first day I met the Living Well coordinator who I had known after attending a night class years ago. We got talking and I became interested in what was going on at the Hub. I decided to volunteer with the weekly craft sessions. I decided to demonstrate how to make crafts from old books. The people attending the group made Christmas Trees and Candles from books. These were then used to decorate the tables at various events and sold afterwards. Away from the Hub, in my spare time, I came up with ideas to make more Christmas decorations. I sold them to raise money to buy resources for our craft activities. I initially thought I would only raise about £50 but I ended up raising £205! During my short time volunteering, I have participated in safeguarding training and also helped out at an Afternoon tea. I have also started volunteering with the Luncheon club and also joined a week ‘Life Skills’ class. I really enjoy helping out and feel like I have given back something to the community in which I was brought up – it felt like I was going back to my roots.”
In May 2019, Burslem Methodist Mission successfully applied for a grant from the Transformation & Growth Programme. The grant helped fund a crisis support officer that would enable the group to support homeless people across Stoke-on-Trent. A total of four projects were launched as a result of the funding, including:
A Place Based Fund is a specialist fund that has been developed to pool small contributions to create a general grants fund for a specific area. Awards are restricted by geography only. Each fund has a panel of local ‘donor advisors’, people who help to raise funds and steer the distribution of any grants in that area. These funds are raised by the community, for the community and are awarded as grants to local groups supporting local people.
Cogs Prepares for Life were awarded a grant from our We Love Lichfield Fund in 2018 towards their ‘Grow, Cook, Eat’ project. The group supports local people in the district of Lichfield with learning difficulties, providing some fantastic educational, training and well-being themed projects. After experiencing an increase in the dependency level of people wishing to be a part of the programme, Cogs Prepares for Life launched new projects aimed at supporting the larger number of local people. This project provided new skills in growing various different vegetables and then using them to prepare and create recipes and providing new cookery skills for the participants. The unique element of this project is that it was tailored to meet every specific individual’s needs. Should an individual struggle with anxiety and had trouble socialising, the project could be tailored to compensate for that person. Similarly, if the individual suffered from sensory loss, the group were able to make adjustments to support them and enable them to take part to the fullest.
“This project has been an amazing experience for ourselves and for our beneficiaries. There has been a lot of learning on how to grow fruit including exotic fruits for the first time such as kiwi, lemons, and melons for the majority of our participants this was the first time that they saw the lemons and melons grow. However, we are still waiting for the kiwi to fully grow and to produce fruit. The participants have also learnt a lot of new skills in how to cultivate and propagate from the stock that we purchased which will also help in the future as we can replace old plants with our own new cultivated stock. We would like to take this opportunity to send a massive thank you to Community Foundation for giving us the opportunity to undertake this programme and help and support us with this project.”
The Community Foundation awarded 1st Fazeley Scout Group a grant from our We Love Tamworth Fund in 2017 towards a group trip to the theatre. Due to financial difficulties, some families were unable to provide their children with outings to the theatre or other activities, so the grant was able to help cover the costs of the trip for disadvantaged families. The trip was a huge success, allowing the children to connect with the arts and improve their confidence through making new friendships with their peers.
The group was also successful in applying for funding in 2018 for their ‘Scout Adventure Weekend.’ The grant went towards the costs of a trip to Kingswood Educational Centre for a weekend during the summer of 2018. An outdoor residential adventure experience provides new challenges, builds confidence, promotes independence, forges life-long friendships and also increases children’s engagement and attainment back at school.
“What an amazing adventure – this was the best camp we have provided for the children. Thank you so much for your kindness and giving lifelong memories for 36 children.”
Gartmore Riding School were awarded funding from our We Love Lichfield fund in 2018 towards their ‘On The Right Track’ community project. They used the funding to run a stables skills and riding club for teenagers with learning difficulties, mental-health issues or BESD support needs. The project was to run for one week and provided a safe space for those children participating to develop their social and communication skills that support them in future education. Participants took part in horse care skills, riding skills, health and safety around horses, developing essential employability skills, as well as developing confidence and self -esteem, team work and communication skills, all essential to future employability.
We supported Spark Springhill Grandparents Group in 2017 with a grant from our We Love Lichfield fund towards the ‘Outdoor Play’ project. The grant went towards the cost of replacing old equipment and buying new facilities to enable the group to host more sessions. The group had originally been set up by Age UK and offers friendship and support to older carers. This helps tackle issues of social isolation in the community by engaging with older residents and creating strong bonds between grandparents and their grandchildren.