Book space at our new Foundation Hub!
20th January 2023
Essex-based charities and community groups are being encouraged to use a new, flexible working space, available free of charge.
Our ‘Foundation Hub’, in central Chelmsford, provides a fully accessible workspace with multiple desks and meeting rooms and includes free Wi-Fi, air conditioning/heating plus tea and coffee, and is open Monday to Friday 9:00am to 4:30pm.
Caroline Taylor, chief executive of Essex Community Foundation, said: “Foundation Hub enables us to extend our support for the voluntary sector in Essex, beyond our grantmaking.
“Our grant partners, past and current, that work in Essex, Southend or Thurrock, are invited to make use of the space and we hope that it will be a valuable resource to support their work, which has a real buzz to it.
“Groups may only need it for an hour, a meeting or a training session or just want to work in a different environment for the day. Whatever the reason, the Foundation Hub has something for all.”
Find out more and BOOK NOW.
Building a new life in Essex
18th January 2023
Micro Rainbow CIC is receiving vital funding for their work in Thurrock supporting asylum seekers and refugees who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, and intersex (LGBTQI).
The funding boost comes from the independent charitable trust, Essex Community Foundation.
Moud Goba, National Manager of the group, said: “Homosexuality is criminalised in over 67 jurisdictions and every year, up to 2,000 LGBTQI people come to UK to seek safety. LGBTQI refugees may be rejected by their families or be escaping a threat to their life and when they arrive in a new country it can be a very isolating and lonely experience.
“We take a holistic approach to integration which is based on three pillars: finding them housing, helping them to feel socially included and supporting them to find employment.
“We are so grateful to receive this funding so we can continue and expand our work in Essex.”
As well as providing a safe living space for LGBTQI refugees when they arrive in the UK, the group offers advocacy and information, group support sessions, referrals to mental health services, help to access GPs and specialist immigration legal advice.
Andy Payne Worpole, Head of Programmes at ECF, said: “This group not only offers practical solutions to immediate issues, such as where people will sleep and help to find a job so they can support themselves, but they also know how daunting the relocation process can be and its knock-on impact on mental health, and they help people through this.
“We are pleased to support them with grants from our fundholders, including the Christopher Holmes Charitable Fund and the Leeze Charitable Fund.”
For information about donating to support local charities like Micro Rainbow CIC please call us on 01245 355947 or apply for a grant here.
We are hiring: Join us as Office Administrator
16th January 2023
Office Administrator (Full-time)
£18,000 – £20,000 pa depending on experience
Based in central Chelmsford
Are you self-motivated, highly organised, enjoy working in a busy team with a positive attitude? If so, this is an exciting opportunity to join Essex Community Foundation (ECF) as an Office Administrator.
Each year ECF, one of the largest independent grantmakers in Essex, awards around £5million of grants from charitable funds under its management. This funding supports voluntary and community organisations across the county that are working to improve the lives of local people.
In this role you will undertake a range of administrative tasks. You will be the primary point of contact for visitors to the Foundation’s office and users of our Foundation Hub. You will provide high quality admin support across all areas of the team.
How to apply:
The closing date for applications closed on Monday 13 February. Interviews will be held in the week commencing 20 February.
Charity begins at home
9th January 2023
Republished with permission from Essex Life.
Over 70% of land in Essex is rural and a quarter of the population lives in rural communities. The positive impact that the countryside and outdoor activities has on mental health is well documented and became more apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Essex is fortunate to have many public pathways, including the well-trodden 82 miles of the Essex Way from Epping Station to Harwich Old Lighthouse, as well as 350 miles of coastline. There are also so many historic buildings and gardens that are open to the public for everyone to enjoy. But care is needed to keep these spaces and buildings preserved for future generations to enjoy, and they require funding to undertake restoration works.
At Essex Community Foundation, we manage a number of charitable funds on behalf of our donors whose interest is in the outdoors and maintaining the environment for the benefit of all. One of these is the ‘Bartleet Family Fund’ and we have been pleased to work with the fundholders since 2017 to support charitable projects and activities that meet their interests.
Ann and Anthony Bartleet were ahead of their time with their deep concerns for the natural environment and protecting our heritage for future generations. Their far-sighted interests and practical action for such causes, along with promoting musical events and activities, began several decades ago and continue to this day, through their fund with us.
Historic churches, heritage and maritime centres, outreach programmes involving young people and opera workshops are among the projects that have benefited from grants totalling more than £200,000 distributed through the Fund.
“Essex is a very much underestimated county, but we have the most splendid buildings and wonderful countryside,” said Ann. “I believe that heritage, the environment and the countryside are hugely important to people’s wellbeing, which is why we always supported such causes, even when they were not as popular as they are now.”
She and Anthony brought up their three sons in Essex and had a family trust fund for many years to make annual charitable contributions. In 2017 they made the decision to transfer the management of the fund to ECF. “This has proved to be very satisfactory, said Ann. “ECF give a very personal service, doing the groundwork and the administration for regular giving to both local and national charities. This allows me to respond to local requests for funding in the areas that I am especially interested in.
“Although the fund, quite rightly, concentrates on good causes that have direct community benefits, I like to think that by supporting environmental and cultural initiatives, I can remind everyone just how important the natural world, countryside and historic buildings and all sorts of cultural activities are to us all.”
At her home in Great Tey, Ann is surrounded by the glorious Essex countryside which she has cherished since she came from “over the border” in Hertfordshire to live in the county, at the start of her 54-year marriage to Anthony, a marine underwriter with Lloyds of London, who sadly died in 2019.
Ann says she feels fortunate that she has been able to give a lot of her time to the causes that have inspired her. More than two decades ago was made an MBE for preservation work protecting rural areas. “For many years I was lucky enough to have been able to work as a trustee of environmental charities both nationally and locally, reflecting my interest in the historic built environment and in the natural world,” she said.
“I have been a trustee of the National Trust, vice chairman of CPRE as well as chairman of the local branch here in Essex. My husband set up a building preservation trust here in north-east Essex whose mission is to repair and find new uses for historic buildings in distress.“As well as supporting national wildlife and nature conservation charities such as RSPB, Plantlife and the Woodland Trust, we have always contributed to Essex Wildlife Trust.”
Along with devotion to heritage and the countryside, Ann also has a lifelong love for music, having sung in choirs for 70 years, since she was a schoolgirl.
She said: “Music and the arts always played an important part in our lives, and we have been contributors to charities which support music in cathedrals. My husband was a trustee of a small opera company and we have been contributors to the Art Fund.”
Grants from the Bartleet Family Fund have helped to restore and repair bells and organs in several Essex churches and have also supported music festivals and choirs in the county. Being involved in so many causes and organisations has given Ann a great insight into the power of harnessing people’s interests to ensure that everyone can benefit from healthy and sustainable surroundings.
“It is amazing what communities can do – and there is always plenty to do if you look out for it,” she says. But Ann believes that the word community does not just relate to the people of the county. She feels it is also about preserving and restoring the important structures in our communities, so that people can appreciate their history and beauty now and in the future.
Although she says that advancing years mean restricting her activities to closer to home, Ann relishes her connections with the whole county. Her family fund is helping to fulfil the vision she and husband Anthony had to enhance the environment and help secure the precious heritage of Essex for future generations to enjoy.
ECF can help you to give back to your local community and to the causes you are passionate about. Call us on 01245 355947 or click here.
Our newly published Annual Review and Grants Supplement!
23rd December 2022
We are excited to share our newly published Annual Review and Grants Supplement! Read it here.
This is a round up of our work over the past 12 months and features stories about local groups we have supported, and the new funds set up with us.
Hard copies will be arriving on door mats soon. If you are not on our mailing list and would like to receive a copy of the Review in the post, please e-mail hello@essexcf.org.uk with your address details.
Help the most vulnerable in Essex this winter – Surviving Winter Appeal
21st December 2022
Click here to give now to our Appeal.
Recent grants have been awarded to warm hubs in Harwich and Chelmsford, and for volunteers in Tiptree to buy and distribute heated blankets for local people who are struggling financially.
We are responding to the escalating rise in the cost-of-living and are working closely with groups to best understand their needs. Our ‘Surviving Winter Appeal’ is one opportunity for local people to support vulnerable communities, which is needed now more than ever before.
The Appeal calls on local people to donate what they can to raise vital funds to help older and vulnerable people get through the colder months.
Andy Payne Worpole, head of programmes at ECF, said: “There will be many people in Essex forced to choose between heating and eating this winter, and this will be dangerous for those who are elderly or have health conditions – but you could help them.
“All donations to our Appeal will help provide grants to cover fuel and food costs, support activities to reduce loneliness and isolation, and help those in need to access specialist services and community groups.
“It may be that you receive the Winter Fuel Allowance or the Energy Rebate and don’t need it to pay your own bills, and you could consider donating this.
In previous years, funds from the Appeal have supported winter clothing packs for vulnerable people, lunch clubs that provide a warm and welcoming space for elderly people and homeless charities to provide extra beds during the colder months.
Andy added, “Our Surviving Winter Appeal is a direct way to help people in need in your local community to stay warm, safe and connected with others. Please give whatever you can to help us support as many people as possible.”
- Cheques can also be sent to the Essex Community Foundation offices: 3 Hoffmanns Way, Chelmsford, CM1 1GU. To ask any questions you may have about the Appeal and alternate ways to give to it, please call us on 01245 355947.
- Local charities and community groups in need of funding to support them during this difficult time, including towards core costs (such as rent and salaries) are encouraged to call our grants team on 01245 355947.