Gloucestershire Funders

Gloucestershire Funders

Gloucestershire Funders is a new collaboration between eight charitable foundations and organisations who can provide funding for charities, groups, people and activities, in Gloucestershire.  We have come together to support the county during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Listening to what’s needed

We have spent two weeks listening to charities across the county to understand the impact of COVID-19.  Gloucestershire charities and civil society groups have made an incredible response to this emergency.  We have heard how you are changing how you work and adapting what you offer with speed and ingenuity, against the backdrop of worrying financial uncertainty.

What are we doing?

As a group of funders, we want to adjust rapidly too, to work differently in response to this emergency – to support what’s most needed in Gloucestershire.

We want to support you by making it as easy as possible for you to apply for funds, without having to make lots of separate applications.  So, we are joining forces to share information and intelligence so that between us we can support the county in four ways.

For a list of the funders included in the Gloucestershire Funders group, see below.

1. Immediate responsive funding

We have heard that there is a need for the following immediately:

• Revenue funds for civil society organisations whose immediate survival is at risk, to ensure that they can continue to provide their existing services
• Revenue funds for charities who want to reimagine and reconfigure their services in light of the new environment they are operating in and the challenges facing the people they exist to serve
• Capital funds for charities already developing spaces and places which will be of benefit to people in the post-pandemic recovery period, where those places or spaces are now at risk

How to apply

There are two routes to apply for ‘immediate responsive funding’:

1. To apply to the Gloucestershire Community Foundation, please complete the simple online application form and they will respond to you directly.

With your permission, the Gloucestershire Community Foundation may also share your application with the Gloucestershire Funders (group listed below) to see if any other funder can contribute.

2. To apply to any of the other Gloucestershire Funders listed below, please send one side of A4 to Georgia.Boon@barnwoodtrust.org providing the following four pieces of information:
   • What does your organisation do, where and with whom?
   • What do you need money for and what difference will it make?
   • What will you spend the money on and in what time frame?
   • Contact details for the person we should contact about this application

With your permission, Georgia Boon at Barnwood Trust will immediately share this information across all the funders listed in the group below.  We will report back to you within a week if possible, to let you know which funders may be interested and who to contact to find out next steps.

2. Potential proactive funding

Our information gathering exercise has revealed that there are a number of groups of people who are at particular risk during this emergency.

We will convene virtual meetings with key Gloucestershire charities serving needs in the county, together with commissioners of services, to identify where there are gaps that charitable funding could assist in meeting, if possible.

We will, over time, be in touch with organisations working with specific groups and relevant service commissioners to start these discussions.

3: Mentoring and support to charity CEOs and Chairs

These are unprecedented times and charity CEOs and Chairs are facing extraordinary challenges.  We have heard a number of people say that talking with experienced colleagues and people dealing with the same issues in this crisis can be helpful.  We have had offers of voluntary mentoring through the Cranfield Trust, from experienced business people, charity Chief Executives and Chairs.

So, we are working with the VCS Alliance to put together an offer of both:

• 1-1 and group mentoring for charity Chief Executives and Chairs
• facilitated online peer support groups for charity Chief Executives

As soon as these opportunities are available, they will be communicated via our networks and on social media.

We will also share other leadership mentoring opportunities for community leaders who are grappling with leadership dilemmas during this crisis, as they arise.

4. Longer-term recovery, redevelopment and support

Whilst there is a lot of focus on the immediate impact of the pandemic on charities, groups, communities and people, many are also considering the long-term impact and the recovery process that will follow.

The challenge for funders is getting the balance between providing both immediate support and responding to the long-term impact.  With that in mind, as a collective of Gloucestershire Funders we are interested in supporting applications for project and capital funds for initiatives contributing to:

• the individual recovery and resilience for children, young people and adults most affected by the impact of the pandemic;
• strengthening communities affected by the pandemic and investing in those demonstrating new ways of working that strengthen partnerships between communities, public and private sectors in response to need.

Tell us what’s needed

Organisations, communities and groups considering these issues are invited to discuss ideas with us, in the first instance, by calling Georgia on 07516 030263 or emailing Georgia.Boon@barnwoodtrust.org.  Your ideas will be shared with the Gloucestershire Funders and we will use our networks to identify potential longer-term sources of support. 

Who are the Gloucestershire Funders?

We are a group of eight funders committed to work together as flexibly, swiftly and helpfully as we can, for the benefit of Gloucestershire charities, people and groups.

We will explore ways of sharing due diligence information and aligning our reporting processes to try and reduce the administrative burden on charities, whilst still maintaining our own good governance (please bear with us while we work these things out).

We also feel that, in good conscience, we need to say that we think there is going to be much more demand than we have the funds to respond to, but we are committed to doing as much as we can, and still ensure our ability to go on funding into the future.

The Gloucestershire Funders, in alphabetical order, are:

• Barnwood Trust
• Create Gloucestershire
• Gloucestershire Disability Fund
• Gloucestershire Community Foundation
• National Benevolent Charity
• Police and Crime Commissioner’s Office
• Summerfield Trust
• Thirty Percy Foundation

We are also in close contact with the VCS Alliance, the Local Enterprise Partnership and the District and County Councils.

And, in contact with other charitable funders in Gloucestershire, including Ernest Cook Trust, National Lottery for Gloucestershire, Pied Piper Trust, St James’s Place Foundation, The Henry Smith Charity County Grants and The Honourable Company of Gloucestershire.

 Get in touch

Barnwood Trust are acting as the central point of contact for the Gloucestershire Funders for the time being.  Please send any communications for the joint Gloucestershire Funders to Georgia.Boon@barnwoodtrust.org or call Georgia on 07516 030263.