Northern Rock grants £1.5m to four community foundations
Howard Lake | 2 February 2015 | News
Northern Rock Foundation has made grants totalling £1.5 million to four community foundations in the the North East of England and Cumbria. These are part of its final programme of work in 2015 before it closes down.
Grants of £375,000 each were made to:
· County Durham Community Foundation
· Cumbria Community Foundation
· Tees Valley Community Foundation
· The Community Foundation serving Tyne and Wear and Northumberland
The community foundations were selected so that the region will continue to benefit from the Foundation’s funds in the future, even once it has closed.
Appropriately enough, The Community Foundation serving Tyne and Wear and Northumberland will move into Northern Rock Foundation’s premises, The Old Chapel in Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne, later this year. It will offer the space free of charge for use by community organisations for meetings and events.
Grants in perpetuity from community foundations
Cumbria Community Foundation, Tees Valley Community Foundation and County Durham Community Foundation will all use their grants to create a new fund within each of their endowed funds. These endowed funds will then provide annual grants in perpetuity to organisations helping disadvantaged people.
Alastair Balls, Chairman of Northern Rock Foundation, which is no longer accepting grant applications, said:
“Community foundations are connected to a wide range of voluntary and community organisations which meet the needs of people throughout the region. These grants are part of the Foundation’s legacy programme and ensure that the last of the Foundation’s funding provides long term benefit for current and future generations across the North East and Cumbria.”
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Kate Stewart, Interim Chief Executive of UK Community Foundations, welcomed the investment in community foundations from “an outstanding grant making organisation”. She said:
“The funding to community foundations, which will be invested directly into the local community, ensures that the work carried out by Northern Rock Foundation supporting people in the North East of England and Cumbria can continue long into the future. The endowment model used by community foundations ensures that such investments can be used strategically over the long term to address social issues at a local level.”
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.