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At the beginning of December, we launched a new brand image and name – County Durham Community Foundation - which we feel will be more representative of our beliefs and values.
The new branding is the result of feedback from stakeholder workshops held earlier in the year to gather informed opinions of how people perceive us. The inclusion of the word ‘Community’ is more reflective of what we do and aligns ourselves more closely with the Community Foundation movement, which is fast growing across the UK and globally.
Click here to read more about our
re-brand.
Long-standing local trust, the Henry Smith's Charity, recently became our 8th Grassroots fund holder by creating a £50,000 fund for the benefit of small, local community groups supporting the disadvantaged elderly.
The Henry Smith's Charity has provided grant support in the Durham City area for over 400 years now and, as a continuation of their work and long-term vision, have set up a Grassroots Endowment Fund to help increase the impact of their grant making.
The £50,000 fund was created with a donation of just £25,000 thanks to the matching arrangement from the Grassroots Challenge.
Click here to find out how the challenge works.
Incoming High Sheriff of Durham, Mr Alasdair MacConachie OBE, recently held his inaugural dinner at Darlington College in association with County Durham Foundation.
Mr MacConachie, a prominent local businessman and founding member of County Durham Foundation, was keen to help us spread the message of our work in Darlington to some of his friends and colleagues. This included Lord Leon Brittan who gave an extremely interesting after dinner speech which highlighted the current need for increased local community support given the state of the global economy.
Community Foundation Network, in conjunction with the Institute of Family Business, has just launched a report into family business philanthropy and social responsibility.
The study, completed by Beth Breeze from Kent University, reveals the essential contribution that UK family businesses are making to local communities. As companies facing the recession look to make budget cuts, this report highlights a number of reasons why charitable giving by family firms may prove to be more resilient.
The Directory of Social Change, the leading source of information to voluntary
and community sectors worldwide, has rated nearly 200 funders based on five
indicators: availability, contacts, clarity, relevance and application process
and we are very pleased to see that community foundations currently top the
table, ahead of organisations like English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery
Fund.
Click
here to read more about the successes of the UK Community Foundation Network.
In a recent presentation ceremony Darlington's outgoing Mayor, Councillor Ian Haszeldine, donated £3,000 to our Darlington Champions programme, to support small, community initiatives in and around the town. In addition this money will be matched 100% by County Durham Foundation through the Government's Grassroots Challenge.
Click here to read more about the £1 for £1 Grassroots Challenge.
A report published last week by VONNE (Voluntary Organisations Network North
East) has highlighted for the first time just how serious the impact of the
recession has been on local community and voluntary groups.
According to the report, demand for help is 'soaring' as organisations are
squeezed by the recession. Hardest hit are groups advising on debt, family
breakdown and mental health issues. Click
here to read this report.
County Durham Foundation's Dig Deep for Durham and Darlington campaign aims
to raise support for groups suffering in the economic crisis. Click
here to find out how you can help.
Two members of Darlington & District Social Club for the Blind and Visually Impaired were recently invited to meet with Government Ministers at a Parliamentary Reception to celebrate all they have achieved in the local community with support from the Government’s £130m Grassroots Grants programme. Click here for full story.
Building
Society Backs Grassroots ProjectsDarlington Building Society is backing County Durham Foundation’s Dig Deep for Durham and Darlington campaign by donating 35p for every valid vote cast in its forthcoming Annual General Meeting. The building society is hoping to raise at least £4,000 which will be matched pound for pound by the Grassroots Challenge. Click here for full press release.
Kevan
Jones MP recently went along to see how West Pelton Brass Band was using the
£1,000 grant they received from the Grassroots programme to pay for
room hire and tutor's fees.
The North Durham MP is the latest person to support the Dig
Deep for Durham and Darlington Campaign by creating a Grassroots Endowment
fund in support of small, community and voluntary organisations across County
Durham. Click here to see who else has
created Grassroots funds.
Nicola
Kane, from PricewaterhouseCoopers and Mark I’Anson, chairman of County
Durham Foundation launched the Dig Deep for Durham and Darlington campaign
by visiting‘Time Out’, a community group who received a £5,000
grant from the Grassroots programme to pay for running costs so they could
continue providing training opportunities and skills development workshops
for women in South Hetton.
PriceWaterhouseCoopers were the first local business to take up the Grassroots Endowment Challenge, receiving a 100% match for donations into their Grassroots Endowment fund. Click here to read the full press release.
This
new campaign is aimed to get those who have been least affected by the economic
crisis to think about giving something back to support those who are struggling
to cope in Durham and Darlington. As an incentive we are offering to double
all donations into funds set up under the Grassroots Challenge. Click
here to read the press release.
'Charity
Queen' appointed as new Chief ExecutiveOn 1st December 2008 we were very pleased to welcome our new Chief Executive Barbara Gubbins to the organisation. Barbara joined us from The Children’s Foundation in Newcastle after five very successful years at the helm.
Barbara has been described in the past as a North East ‘charity
queen’ for her impressive work with The Children’s Foundation
and before that the Community Foundation serving Tyne and Wear and Northumberland.
Click here to read the full press release.
At our last AGM on November 2008 County Durham Foundation welcomed five new members onto its board. Coming from very diverse backgrounds, the new board members will add a great deal of new skills to the organisation. The new additions include: George Garlick, Chief Executive of County Durham Unitary Authority; Christopher Lendrum CBE, Chairman of Barclays Pensions Funds; David Martin, Company Secretary at the Banks Group; Gerry Osborne, Chairman of Roman Ltd in Newton Aycliffe and Kate Welch OBE, the social entreprenuer behind Acumen Development Trust. Click here to read biographies of our new and existing board members.
At 7pm on Wednesday 16th July 2008 at Hardwick Hall Hotel in Sedgefield, we were very excited to announce that small community groups and projects are to benefit from a £1,442,000 cash injection, after County Durham Foundation won a Government contract to distribute funding to grassroots good causes and encourage philanthropists to set up their own funds to help their communities.
Read the full press release.
Find out how you can take advantage of the Grassroots
Endowment Challenge.
Apply for funding.
July
2008 - Making a local and lasting impactOur purpose is to support community-based projects that make a real difference to the quality of life for local people who are disadvantaged. We act as a vehicle for individuals, families and companies who want to put something back into their local community either in their lifetime or through leaving a legacy. If you wish to become a fundholder you can find out more about how County Durham Foundation aims to make a local and lasting impact in this brochure.
New
leadership for County Durham FoundationWe are very pleased to announce the appointment of our new Chairman, local
businessman Mark I’Anson who succeeds Bernard Robinson OBE.
David discovers how Community Foundations across the country are helping
donors to discover a way of using their money to make a local impact.
Read
the full story.
A recent article published by Third Sector Review shows that the money available
to community foundations has doubled over the past four years.
Read the
full story.
Many local organisations, large and small, helped us to make a difference
this Christmas by purchasing their cards from our Gift Shop and making a donation
to a good cause of their choice.
Read the full press release.
The
Tony Blair Sports Foundation is launchedAs you have probably heard in the news, this week saw the launch of the Tony Blair Sports Foundation, which will be based in his old constituency home in Sedgefield. What you might not realise is that his Foundation is actually part of County Durham Foundation.
We were chosen by Mr Blair to offer governance and management support to his staff, who are employed by us. The Tony Blair Sports Foundation will increase participation in sport by young people, particularly those who are currently socially excluded, by inspiring more adults to become trained coaches; by providing access to training and matching coaches with sports clubs and schools.
Read the official press release.
A serial entrepreneur who has been hailed by many as a new age eco-warrior of the business world. Alex has just donated £37,500 worth of shares in a Chinese goldmine to the Foundation.
Life's
getting better in County Durham, but only for some of usLife in County Durham and Darlington is much better than
it once was….but many places, communities and individuals have been
left behind’, according to a new report commissioned by local grant
making charity County Durham Foundation from Durham University academic and
social researcher Professor Fred Robinson.
Download the research report.
Request a copy of the research report.
Read the full press
release.
Sunday Times 22.07.07
After Sir Tom Hunter’s £1billion pledge to charity, an article
about the new philanthropists who are attempting to bridge the wealth gap
recently appeared in the Sunday Times praising Community Foundation's for
their ability to ‘put local donors in touch with almost any kind of
project they might wish to support’.
Read the extract
Read
the full article
Fund
holder goes undercover as 'the Secret Millionaire'.On Wednesday 6th December television viewers may have seen local entrepreneur John Elliott MBE become Channel 4’s latest ‘Secret Millionaire’. The second instalment of Channel 4’s new reality TV show, ‘The Secret Millionaire’ saw John, a well-respected businessman from Crook, living off just £11 a day state benefit for a week in inner city Liverpool to find somebody whose life he could change for the better with a cheque for £50,000.
This is however just the tip of the charitable iceberg where John is concerned, as he has held a charitable fund with County Durham Foundation since 1999.
10th
Anniversary Celebration at Raby CastleOn Friday 8th September we hosted an evening of entertainment for our fund-holders and supporters to celebrate the end of our 10th Anniversary year.
The evening, kindly hosted by Lord Barnard, was a great success. Entertainment for the evening was provided by Durham Traditional Music Festival, Durham Johnson School Choir and Durham Chinese School. The night was brought to a close by a spectacular firework display.
Local
Entrepreneur Gives a Helping Hand to Budding Young StarGuy Readman, Chairman of Birtley based Tor Coatings Limited, has recently helped a young dancer from Durham move one step closer to achieving his dream of completing a course at the prestigious Italia Conti Stage School in London.
20-year-old Kyle Craggs has wanted to be a dancer for as long as he can remember. His exceptional talents won him one of only 30 coverted places at the London Stage School. However after only one year of training Kyle was in danger of having to give up his dream due to a lack of funds.
Grant Recipient publishes first book!Jason’s story is a remarkable one. Up until recently
Jason, aged 22, could neither read nor write. With the help of his wife and
a Global Grant, Jason discovered a real passion and talent for writing and
has now published his first book.
Click here
to read more about Jason's story and the Global Grants Programme.
Our Gold Darlington Champion, Latimer Hinks Solicitors kindly hosted a Charity Ball to raise money for two charities, we were lucky enough to be one of them, the other was ChildLine. The evening was a huge success and a fantastic night was had by all.
A new support group to help children with Down Syndrome learn and have fun
is set to expand thanks to support from the Darlington Champions. The Down
Syndrome support group was set up in partnership with the national organisation
Down Syndrome Educational Trust, which helps pre-school age children with
Down Syndrome improve their language, reading, writing and numeracy skills.
Darlington Champions provided a grant of £7,000 to buy new equipment
and pay for specialist staff.
For more on this news item click here.
Belmont Parish Hall Association have received a grant of £5,556 from The Banks Community Fund which is administered by the County Durham Foundation, a local grant making organisation, The grant has been used to help build a brand new community facility next to Belmont Church for the people of Belmont and Carville which replaces facilities lost to the community 13 and 20 years previously.
