Charitable organisation Leeds Community Foundation sees demand more than double for some services

The foundation was started in 2005 with the intention of becoming a philanthropic vehicle for businesses and individuals to give money to community projects and charities, aimed at helping the local area.

Recent months have seen an increase in demand for the foundation's services, as community groups and individuals struggle with the repercussions of the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis.

“Covid didn't bring new challenges as such, but it exacerbated the challenges that were already there, and really brought them into sharp contrast, and I think the cost-of-living crisis will be the same, ” said Cleveland Henry, deputy chair of the foundation.

“I still think we're very early in the crisis, and I don't think we've seen the real impact yet.

“When you talk about heat or eat, and feeding school children outside term time, the problems are probably about to become even greater.”

Leeds Community Foundation was one of the bodies involved in the Healthy Holidays scheme, which gave children on free school meals food outside term time.

This was also extended into term times during lock down, as parents who normally have children on free school meals were forced to spend more on feeding their families.

The charity works closely with small community groups, developing a relationship with the groups to be able to offer advice, as well as distributing funds.

When deciding which community groups to support, the foundation holds panels which work through applications to make decisions on a case by case basis.

Each panel will have a person with lived experience of the problems the community groups are attempting to help with.

In the last few years, the charity has focussed on smaller groups, with an annual turnover of under £250,000.

When the charity receives money from a doner, it is able to guide them on the best ways for their money to be spent to help towards solving a specific problem.

“Quite often it's a case of directing them to other people who may come through us,” said Nick Lane Fox, chair of the foundation.

“People don't necessarily know the groups, and the groups don't know where to look, so we provide that middleman service.

“Particularly on the basis that the people who know the problems of an area are the ones who live in that area, who are there every day, so working with them means the local groups can really get what they need.”

Throughout the 2021/2022 financial year, the charity distributed £4M in grants.

It has supported 347 organisations, with an average grant size of £10,000, and 675 grants distributed in total.

“Quite often the type of funding we supply is flexible, it's not always the biggest amount but it's timely, and that's because we work really closely with those groups,” said Kate Hainsworth, chief executive of the foundation.

“So although it maybe isn't the biggest cash investment they've ever had, it might just bridge them between two cash investments that otherwise would have turned them under.

“It's about being there at the right time, and people knowing we're here.”