UK Community Foundations

Promoting fairness and inclusivity starts with clear communication! At Community Foundation Wales, we're committed to ensuring that everyone can access the opportunities and support they need. Based on insights from our Loud and Clear research and community feedback, we have learnt that it's not just what we share, but how we share it that truly matters. Swipe through the carousel to learn more about how we're working to make information accessible for everyone. ➡️

It's an oldy but goody, saying " yes" to getting out of your comfort zone. I also think it's particularly important for managers and facilitators, who are asking it of others. So, when I was asked to run the morning energiser at the UK Community Foundations conference, in addition to a break out session. my first reaction was "eek!" And my second, "Yes!" For those of you who don't know, The "T" of PACT Creative stands for Transform. Stepping safely out of your comfort zone is something you can definitely expect in one of my workshops, and the transformative power of having done this, and how you feel as a result is a key feature of my work. So whilst creating and delivering workshops & training is my favourite (and probably what I'm currently best at), I felt is was definitely important to get out of my comfort zone for the Energiser, and guess what, it went really well, and the feedback was great. So, I put my money where my mouth is. What steps are you teetering around taking and what is holding you back? #fridaythoughts

Earlier this month, we were thrilled to be invited to talk to European delegates attending the UK Community Foundations in Harrogate. Our chief officer David enjoyed meeting people from 20 countries who were visiting for a day of learning, discussions and collaboration. After sharing stories from our work - helping people with disabilities to access and enjoy the countryside - it was interesting to chat to everyone about building connections and inspiring one another. Thanks to Two Ridings Community Foundation for the opportunity and for their continued support.

Last week, UKCF hosted our biennial three-day conference up in Harrogate titled #FoundationsForTheFuture and themed around our new strategy. Beyond getting to catch-up with so many lovely community foundation folk from the UK network, the highlights for me were: - talks on AI from Tom Neill-Eagle at plinth and Tim Cook, demystifying the topic but also challenging us to think much more ambitiously than just automating existing tasks, and instead ask fundamental questions about the way we do grant-making and philanthropy, and what are the uniquely human aspects of both? - the session on designing inclusive programmes chaired by Damilola Bamidele with Kita Ikoku, Ugo Ikokwu, Alex Hayes and Jenny North, which explored how to more deeply centre equity, diversity, inclusion and justice in our grantmaking, but also the very live debates around spending down endowments, pausing grantmaking and minimum payout rates for foundations; - hosting our amazing delegation of international delegates from the European Community Foundation Initiative and the rest of the world. It’s always good to be reminded we are part of a movement of over 2000 community foundations around the world, who we can learn so much from. Thanks again to the UKCF team who did a magnificent job of making it run like clockwork, particularly the stellar Membership and Learning team of Jo Williams, Nicole Lilauwala and Jade Williams who curated and oversaw it all. I was reflecting today on the two sessions I chaired on conference with Tom Flude and Anna Mowbray from Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) on the need for a National Strategy for Philanthropy and Charitable Giving and in conversation with Indy Johar on the need for radically more ambitious action to tackle the scale of the social and environmental crises we face.  One of the themes of both is the need for much deeper collaboration. We were explicit in our new strategy that to have the scale of impact we want for our communities, we have to work more with and through others. Which brings me to the interesting day I spent yesterday with colleagues from across the sector at 10 Downing Street for the launch of the #CivilSocietyCovenant. We heard from the Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport about their desire for a deeper and more constructive relationship with civil society. The bit that stood out for me was their recognition that this collaboration should be founded on ‘a strong, diverse and independent civil society that can act as a constructive friend and willing partner who can provide insight, innovation, expertise and challenge to drive sound decision-making’. I look forward to working with all our partners to carry on making that a reality. Richard Williams Rob Williamson OBE DL Cath Dovey CBE Nicky Twemlow Carol Mack Fadi Itani OBE Richard Bell David Knott Jon Yates Nick Plumb David Robinson Caroline Slocock Robyn Knox MBE Seb Elsworth MBE Nick Temple Vicki Butler Matt Hyde OBE

Last week, UKCF hosted our biennial three-day conference up in Harrogate titled #FoundationsForTheFuture and themed around our new strategy. Beyond getting to catch-up with so many lovely community foundation folk from the UK network, the highlights for me were: - talks on AI from Tom Neill-Eagle at plinth and Tim Cook, demystifying the topic but also challenging us to think much more ambitiously than just automating existing tasks, and instead ask fundamental questions about the way we do grant-making and philanthropy, and what are the uniquely human aspects of both? - the session on designing inclusive programmes chaired by Damilola Bamidele with Kita Ikoku, Ugo Ikokwu, Alex Hayes and Jenny North, which explored how to more deeply centre equity, diversity, inclusion and justice in our grantmaking, but also the very live debates around spending down endowments, pausing grantmaking and minimum payout rates for foundations; - hosting our amazing delegation of international delegates from the European Community Foundation Initiative and the rest of the world. It’s always good to be reminded we are part of a movement of over 2000 community foundations around the world, who we can learn so much from. Thanks again to the UKCF team who did a magnificent job of making it run like clockwork, particularly the stellar Membership and Learning team of Jo Williams, Nicole Lilauwala and Jade Williams who curated and oversaw it all. I was reflecting today on the two sessions I chaired on conference with Tom Flude and Anna Mowbray from Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) on the need for a National Strategy for Philanthropy and Charitable Giving and in conversation with Indy Johar on the need for radically more ambitious action to tackle the scale of the social and environmental crises we face.  One of the themes of both is the need for much deeper collaboration. We were explicit in our new strategy that to have the scale of impact we want for our communities, we have to work more with and through others. Which brings me to the interesting day I spent yesterday with colleagues from across the sector at 10 Downing Street for the launch of the #CivilSocietyCovenant. We heard from the Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport about their desire for a deeper and more constructive relationship with civil society. The bit that stood out for me was their recognition that this collaboration should be founded on ‘a strong, diverse and independent civil society that can act as a constructive friend and willing partner who can provide insight, innovation, expertise and challenge to drive sound decision-making’. I look forward to working with all our partners to carry on making that a reality. Richard Williams Rob Williamson OBE DL Cath Dovey CBE Nicky Twemlow Carol Mack Fadi Itani OBE Richard Bell David Knott Jon Yates Nick Plumb David Robinson Caroline Slocock Robyn Knox MBE Seb Elsworth MBE Nick Temple Vicki Butler Matt Hyde OBE

We made an exciting announcement at our Foundations for the Future conference this week: UK Community Foundations is pleased to announce the appointment of Emma de Closset as our new CEO, starting in January 2025. With a diverse background in public, private and voluntary sectors, Emma will guide us through a bold new phase of community investment. We were delighted to welcome Emma as a guest at our conference, where she was warmly greeted by leaders from across our membership network, as well as sector peers and partners, and delegates from European Community Foundation Initiative and other international foundation networks. Read more: 📰 https://lnkd.in/eqATV5DB #LeadershipNews #Philanthropy #CommunityFoundations

And that's a wrap for UKCF's 2024 conference! As with all conferences or events, it's easy to think, "That's the end of that!" Absolutely not. This is just the beginning of deeper collaborations and learning planned for our network across the field of philanthropy. 🔍 Topics today have covered the role of power, active citizenship, driving meaningful change by fostering greater involvement and collaboration, our unique accreditation process designed specifically for community foundations, getting young people on board to build a better tomorrow, long-term income generation for communities, the threads that unite us, and a fantastically large interactive workshop led by Jo Williams to ignite our imaginations using toolkits from Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF)! 👏 A huge thanks to today's speakers: Kaveed A. and Ben Robinson at UK Community Foundations, Kathrin Dombrowski at European Community Foundation Initiative, Ebru Gökçe at Habitat Derneği, Jon Alexander at New Citizen Project, Deana Bamford at Coalville C.A.N and We're Right Here, Glyn Butcher at People Fucused Group, Claire Cullens MBE at Norfolk Community Foundation, Megan Pitman at Wiltshire Community Foundation, Francesca Mereta at ECFI and Assifero, Steph Taylor at Leeds Community Foundation, and Adam Cooper at Threads in the Ground. 🙌 Conferences are a huge team effort, so a big thank you to Jo Williams for managing the conference beacon with wonderful support from Nicole Lilauwala, Jade Williams, Lydia Cerguera, Damilola Bamidele, Rachel Morgan and Milly Gurton. Thank you also to Naseef Zaman, Laura Richards, Kay Garnett and Christopher Vidal. We once again thoroughly enjoyed working with ConnectIn Events - Your Live, Hybrid and Virtual Event Specialists and CrowdComms. 🙌 A big shout-out to our headline sponsors, CCLA Investment Management, as well as our other sponsors: Evelyn Partners, Evouchers, Cazenove Capital, Rathbones Charity Investment Management, Unity Trust Bank and our media partner Alliance magazine. #Philanthropy #PositiveChange #CommunityInvestment #SocialImpact #CommunityFoundations

Thanks to the Cazenove Capital team for being such wonderful sponsors throughout Foundations for the Future 2024! 🙌 The team has shown a great presence, sharing knowledge with our delegates at Double Tree By Hilton Harrogate as well as providing interesting insights in yesterday's 'Sustainable private assets' session. 💡

Fantastic to have you with us European Community Foundation Initiative and share our journey of learning with foundations across the continent. 👏

A huge thank you to Peter Gaskell at Evouchers for yesterday's 'UKCF Talk', inspired by TED Talks. Evouchers is one of our sponsors at 'Foundations for the future: Investing in communities' and we've been so pleased to introduce our delegates to their team. We're working with Evouchers to support further community development approaches, exploring ways in which vouchers can be used for emergency response as well as being a long-term option in providing flexible resources to individuals. #Partnership #UKPhilanthropy