About The Community Foundation

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

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

The Community Foundation for Staffordshire was registered in 2001, but did not begin operating until 2008, with the launch of the Grassroots Grants scheme. By April of 2011 we had just over £2m in endowment funds, 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 2018 we formally extended our reach to offer funding schemes, and our ‘We Love’ funds, to our neighbouring county.

We aim to have £10m in charitable endowment funds by 2020, as part of our 10 for 20 initiative, although this does not include Shropshire 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 such as Comic Relief 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 accreditations, to emphasise our clear and transparent method of working, and governing documents and policies that reach a certain standard.