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Community foundations are local champions, inspiring social equity through place-based philanthropy by advising individual donors and organisations who want to give at the heart of their communities for both now and in the long-term.
The community foundation network includes 47 accredited community foundations in the UK, and four international members in Ireland, Jersey, Guernsey and Bermuda – although it is just the UK organisations being explored in this analysis. In addition to the 47 accredited organisations (two of which are reported together for statutory accounting purposes) and UK Community Foundations (UKCF) itself, there are two unaccredited community foundations outside the network.
The organisations in the UKCF network vary greatly in scale.
Grantmaking increased by 15.8% which is a real term increase of 6%.
On average, grantmaking was 82% of spending, but again, it varied greatly depending on economies of scale and the level of non-grantmaking programmes delivered – for example, in some areas where the local infrastructure has closed, the community foundation is providing some capacity-building support.
Income
There was a great diversity in the income trends between the organisations. The main contributor to the drop in income overall was a decrease for the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland from £37.5m to £4.4m and Foundation Scotland from £33.3m to £25m. Excluding these two from the totals, there is an 11.5% increase in income, but no consistent trend in other organisations, with some reporting significant increases and others decreases.
Assets
Assets decreased by £56m (5.3%). £16m of this decrease was from the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland and Foundation Scotland, who had spent down the higher income they’d received the previous year. However, unlike the income position, there was a more consistent trend towards most organisations seeing a small drop in overall assets.
UK Community Foundations Case study
UKCF members facts and figures from UKCF Survey (financial year 2022-2023)
47 – members in the network
40,804 – total number of grants awarded
£170.6 million – total grants collectively awarded
£4,000 – average grant size awarded
£811 million – total network endowment
Where UKCF member funding went in 2022-2023
£73.2 million – cost of living, winter and other immediate support
£49 million – health and wellbeing
£28.5 million – improving diversity and inclusion
£12.8 million – community sector development
£3.5 million – environmental climate / activities
£2.3 million – disaster relief
£1.2 million – social investment
Community foundation recipients
31 of the 47 members of the UKCF network publish their data using the 360Giving Data Standard, although only 21 of these published data for grants awarded in 2022-23.
As seen in the previous grant recipients section, community foundations supported smaller charities (over 82% with income of under £1m). The vast majority of grants were for a year or less, and the highest proportion of income supported organisations working with children and young people.
Geographical analysis
The map below shows the relative level of grant spending per head, based on the totals published by community foundations in their annual accounts. The values range from foundations that spent under £1 per person in their area to the Cumbria Community Foundation which spent the equivalent of £11 for every person in Cumbria.
It is to be noted that spending by individual community foundations will vary over time according to the resources available and the lifecycle of their grant programmes.
Analysis of community foundation grants by deprivation is based on those grants that have geographic data at the Lower Super Output Area (LSOA) for the place or people that are accessing the benefits of the funds (it is recorded as beneficiary location in the 360Giving Data Standard). LSOAs are small areas used in the production of census data. Around 8,000 out of the 12,300 grants published by community foundations in 2022-23 could be matched to an LSOA. Matching these LSOAs to deprivation data accessed from MySociety, community foundations are more likely to fund in deprived areas, both in terms of the number of grants made and the monetary amounts.
Community foundations are local champions, bringing local bodies together to understand inequalities and find solutions. They use these local insights to inspire place-based philanthropy, transforming private wealth into community resources for both now and the long-term.
Each year, UKCF members collectively invest over £70 million into local groups and organisations that are tackling the biggest issues facing communities.
Community foundations played a significant role in supporting local charities during 2023, distributing £170 million around the UK. That we have retained so many of our local charities is a testament to their resilience and agility in being able to adapt quickly. They continue to support communities despite the poly-crisis we’re all experiencing.
The UKCF aim in 2023 was to make a short-term but meaningful impact on frontline services to help them weather the financial storm. Many community foundations launched local appeals and pooled their funds, utilising local expertise and distributing money where it was vitally needed. We at UKCF launched our national Communities in Crisis Appeal to complement the local fundraising done by community foundations, adding an additional £1.35 million to their efforts.
UKCF additionally put in place plans for longer-term resilience for our diverse communities. We have been working with the National Emergencies Trust to scenario plan future disaster preparedness and we remain an active part of the Voluntary and Community Sector Emergencies Partnership (VCSEP).
UK communities are determined to overcome the financial crisis and address the root causes of social inequity through local philanthropic action. Our latest report shows that the desire of communities to prevail through tough times has not faded.
We continue to encourage all of our community foundation members to publish their grant making activity using the 360Giving Data Standard so that the amazing work they are doing can be seen.
For further information on our work, please visit the UKCF website.
