We Love Lichfield

We Love Lichfield is one of the Community Foundation’s place based funds.  It provides grants to a wide range of projects operating across the district of Lichfield. The fund will consider all applications from local groups in need twice a year.

Companies and individuals make up the bulk of the donors to the fund, either through direct donations, or by fundraising.  All the money raised is invested through an endowment fund in line with charity commission guidelines. The financial return from the fund is then distributed as small grants across the area. The beauty of this model is that it will provide a source of sustainable funding that can be used for grants long in to the future.  It’s almost like a pension scheme set up to support community and voluntary groups across Lichfield.

The Origin of the Fund

We Love Lichfield was started with funds that were previously held by Lichfield District Council. The funds had been donated over 100 years ago for very specific purposes, which could no longer be delivered, and yet the funds could not be spent on anything else.  They were transferred in 2011, and were match funded by the Community Foundation, doubling their value to nearly £50,000.  They are now invested to generate a return, and the interest earned on them is then awarded to good causes. The original trusts transferred to the Community Foundation were the J S Brown Bequest, the Old Bath Bequest, the Sir Thomas Hewitt Bequest and the Lichfield Provident Bequest.  Since then donations have been made by other local businesses and organisations.

The Value of the Fund

We originally planned to make awards totalling £25,000 every year.  Due to the success of the fund, and thanks to the dedicated support of many local businesses, we were able to increase this, and so now we award £40,000 each year.  The fund supports community groups and voluntary organisations by allocating grants, and will provide a lasting legacy for the district.

We Love Lichfield has a dedicated panel of local advisors, under the direction of the Community Foundation.  They help to increase awareness of the fund, raise funds to help support the community, and form the decision making panel to offer advice and guidance on how grants should be allocated.

How To Support We Love Lichfield

If you want to support local people, and make a difference to lives of people that live and work on your doorstep, then We Love Lichfield is the perfect way to do it.  There are four key ways of getting involved:

1. You could make a donation.  Donations can be made as a one off donation, or as a regular donation, made monthly, quarterly or annually.  Donations can be made by people and businesses.
2. You could fundraise for We Love Lichfield.  It might be through an event that you put on directly, or might be through taking part in another organised or fundraising event, like a fun run.  We can help you to set up a page linked to We Love Lichfield so that all your donations can be handled online.
3. If you are a business you could make We Love Lichfield your ‘Charity of Choice’.  This allows you to run a number of smaller events over the year and generate involvement from your staff, customers, clients and the wider community.
4. As an individual you can leave a legacy.  This is a way of making sure that the local community benefit from a personal gift in your will.  We are happy to work with you and your solicitor to provide the correct and necessary wording.

Making A Donation

To donate online
Please use the turquoise button below to be taken to our secure donation page.  The page will open in a new window.

To donate by bank transfer
Please contact us and we can provide you with the details you need to make a bank transfer.

To donate by cheque
Please make all cheques payable to ‘Community Foundation for Staffordshire’ and write ‘We Love Lichfield’ on the back and then send to;
Community Foundation, Philanthropy House, Priestly Court, Staffordshire Technology Park, Stafford ST18 0LQ

To leave a legacy
More and more people are now choosing to leave a legacy to a charity of their choice.  For more information on leaving a legacy to We Love Lichfield please see the dedicated section on legacies here, or call us on 01785 339540.