Anonymous donor gives a further £1.5m to Community Foundation
Howard Lake | 24 July 2019 | News
An anonymous donor has made a third major gift to the Heart of England Community Foundation, bringing the total value of her or his gifts to £7.5 million in a little over one year.
The latest gift of more than £1,584,094 follows an initial gift of £4 million in May 2018 and of £2 million in October 2018.
As a community foundation, The Heart of England Community Foundation is a specialist grant-making charity which awards money to local voluntary and community groups on behalf of a range of donors.
The latest donation was given because “the donor has been so impressed with how the Foundation has managed the original donation”.
The total amount given by the donor makes it by far the largest amount of money received from one donor in the Foundation’s 24 year history. Unusually for such a major gift, the new donation is unrestricted, which means the Community Foundation will have control over where the funding will be distributed, rather than being led by its donor.
Tina Costello
Costello said:
“When I was told the amount of money we’d be receiving, I had to pull my car over – I was just overwhelmed.
“This incredible amount of money will allow us to develop our own grant-giving programmes for the first time. The majority of our grant programmes are donor led which is great, because it means our donors have a strong say and personal involvement in who benefits from their money.
“However, this wonderfully generous anonymous donor has given us the freedom to develop and implement our own grant programmes, based on evidence of need across our region.
“The anonymous donor has been instrumental in changing the landscape and direction of the charity and has enabled us to grow and develop in the way we support our communities.
“This money is allowing us to move in a new direction and I’m looking forward to getting started.”
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Building Better lives
The original donation of £4 million has been used to set up the ‘Building Better Lives’ initiative by the Foundation. The scheme will be used to support up to three projects across the West Midlands Region that have a successful track record and expertise in delivering capital projects and support for vulnerable and disadvantaged people.
Costello added:
“I have to say a massive thank you to the donor for continuing to support us – it shows an incredible amount of faith in what we do and I couldn’t be prouder.
“The Building Better Lives initiative was made possible thanks to their money, and we hope to distribute the money to projects in the next few months.
“But I still couldn’t believe how large their recent donation was. We can’t wait to use the money to transform people’s lives.”
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.