# 50 years of community foundations in the UK and Europe

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2025/05/15/50-years-of-community-foundations-in-the-uk-and-europe/
- Published: 2025-05-15T14:50:00+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

**This month marks the 50th anniversary of the first community foundation in the
UK and Europe. Since then the growing network of community foundations have distributed
over £2.1 billion to grassroots projects across the UK and Jersey.**

Wiltshire Community Foundation was the UK’s and Europe’s first community foundation.
Founded in May 1975 in Swindon, England, it was joined four years later by the Community
Foundation for Northern Ireland was created. 

Community foundations encourage local giving by “bringing people together in common
purpose to address local needs”.  

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But they are more than local grant makers. They have “deep knowledge of the challenges
and opportunities in their area, working in partnership with others to transform
lives” and are a key element of **placed-based philanthropy**.

The number of community foundations grew thanks to UK government support and endowment
challenge grants from Charities Aid Foundation and C.S Mott Foundation during the
1980s and 1990s.

Now there are over 850 community foundations across the UK and Europe. They are 
part of the global community foundation movement which continues to grow, with more
than 1,800 community foundations now operating in countries throughout Africa, Asia,
South America, Europe, North America and the South Pacific.

In the UK community foundations have a membership network body, [UK Community Foundations](https://www.ukcommunityfoundations.org/who-we-are).
It operates with the purpose that “environmental justice, social equity, diversity
and inclusion should be woven into every aspect of grant making and community investment”.

One of its many projects is working with the Charity Commission for England and 
Wales to revive dormant assets. These can be charities or trusts that are likely
to close down or finding it difficulty legally to distribute funds according to 
their charitable objectives. UKCF helps such charities either get back up and running
or revitalise their dormant assets into good causes across the UK. 

It works with government, businesses, trusts and foundations “to make a big impact
at a local level”.

It is an alliance member of [The Community Wealth Fund](https://communitywealthfund.org.uk/),
a campaign calling for long-term investment in the neighbourhoods that need it most.

European community foundations have a similar membership network, the [European Community Foundation Initiative](https://www.communityfoundations.eu/home.html).

## Celebrating 50 years

UK Community Foundations (UKCF) has published an overview of the first 50 years 
of the movement in the UK and Europe. It features a timeline showing the year each
UKCF member was founded and the total it has awarded, together with the combined
total figure.

Wiltshire Community Foundation marked its 50th anniversary as the first UK and European
community foundation by hosting a conference in Devizes to celebrate the contribution
of the voluntary sector across Wiltshire and Swindon. 

 * **[New CEO for UK Community Foundations](https://fundraising.co.uk/2020/07/02/new-ceos-for-uk-community-foundations-nurtureuk/)(
   2 July 2020)
 * **[John Nickson joins UK Community Foundations as trustee](https://fundraising.co.uk/2015/11/12/john-nickson-joins-uk-community-foundations-as-trustee/)(
   12 November 2015)
 * **[UK and Canadian community foundations publish report cards to guide grantmaking](https://fundraising.co.uk/2015/10/07/uk-and-canadian-community-foundations-publish-report-cards-to-guide-grantmaking/)(
   7 October 2015)**