Support available for projects tackling food poverty
26th October 2020
We are pleased to be working with the Co-op who have donated £35,000 to support food projects in Essex and we would like to hear from local charities and voluntary organisations that are in need of support.
Grants of up to £15,000 are available and projects and activities must be tackling food inequality or encouraging healthy eating during the coronavirus pandemic. We are particularly interested to hear from groups that are working in partnership.
Examples include, but are not limited to:
– Foodbanks and emergency food provision
– Breakfast and lunch clubs
– School holiday food programmes
– Cooking and healthy eating projects
Please make sure your application reaches us by Friday 13 November. Our grants team are on hand to answer any questions or guide you through the application process so do call them on 01245 356018 or CHAT to us through our website. To apply, click here.
The Co-op has donated £1.5m to National Emergencies Trust and UK Community Foundations to award funding to local initiatives. The money was raised over the summer through purchases from the Co-op’s picnic range.
Former Deputy Chief Constable shares his passion for supporting local charities
21st October 2020
Charles Clark encountered several life-or-death situations and gained plenty of accolades during his time in the Essex police force.
The events were defining moments in his memorable career and Charles, who rose through the ranks to become the county’s Deputy Chief Constable, also embarked on life-changing work in the community.
“So many experiences during my police service have left an indelible impression on me,” says Charles.
“My involvement with the voluntary sector, particularly with Essex Community Foundation, has also been one of the most profound experiences of my life.”
As a young constable in Clacton 1972 Charles was the target of an attempted murder when he tried to arrest a teenager who was armed with a 22-calibre rifle. Six years later, as an acting inspector, he was taken hostage in Harlow by a gunman who was drunk and on drugs but managed to escape unharmed.
In 1984, on his first day in command as a chief inspector, he had to cope with the tragedy of a colleague, Bill Bishop, being shot dead in an armed robbery at Walton-on-the-Naze post office.
Charles was recognised for his bravery and showed that he had compassion, as well as a clear vision, of how the police force could progress and improve.
These strengths came to the fore when he became a founding trustee and later chairman of the independent charitable trust, Essex Community Foundation (ECF).
Charles is now a much-valued vice-president of ECF. He and his wife Sue, who live in Tolleshunt D’Arcy near Maldon, were among the first to set up a family fund managed by ECF to help support community and voluntary groups in Essex. The couple, who met at Maldon Grammar School when they were both 16, were married in 1969.
“Sue was one of the cleverest girls in the school and I was good at sport,” said Charles. “I wanted to be a professional footballer and had a couple of trials with clubs. Then I had plans to be a sports teacher, until I went for a beer with a friend who was a police cadet and seemed to be having a wonderful life, playing lots of sport and doing things in the community.
“I decided to apply to the Essex force and got the job. I was actually interviewed by the Chief Constable at the time and I think he was impressed that I had bought my own smart suit from my earnings from a holiday job, even though he suggested that my parents had paid for it. I was the first in my family to join the police force. I came from a working-class background and my dad was a lorry driver.”
As his career progressed Charles became more and more aware of issues affecting young people.
“I came across kids who were bright as buttons but had no chances in life because of where they came from and the way they had been brought up,” he said.
Charles went on to take a leading role in the youth justice system, helping to develop policies and strategy for the police service and working closely with the government. Sue was for many years a counsellor of young people and a trustee of Maldon Home-Start which enabled her to see how many children and families needed additional support.
It was when he was Assistant Chief Constable of Essex that Charles met the founder of ECF, the late Ian Marks and the organisation’s first chief executive, Laura Warren.
“Ian had the vision of setting up one of the first community foundations in the country and was approaching people he thought could help,” said Charles. “He talked about organisations sharing ideas and working in partnership in a strategic way. This was music to my ears, as I had realised, in my work with the police service, how important this approach was.
“I knew that the voluntary sector, which was massively parochial at the time, needed to be much more strategic. Ian set a fantastic £3 million match funding challenge to launch ECF and I became a founding trustee. I was able to combine my involvement in ECF with my role as Deputy Chief Constable, as partnership working was one of my objectives.”
During his time as chairman of ECF Charles was a passionate advocate of trustees taking a leading role in fund development and working with the ECF staff was responsible for a number of significant donations being made to ECF. One of Charles’ greatest achievements was his idea for ECF to work with Essex Police to set up the Proceeds of Crime Matched Funding Scheme. The initiative means that ECF is able to match on a 2:1 basis, donations from individuals or companies with money from seized criminal assets and the sale of stolen property recovered by the police. As the donations are invested into endowed funds managed by ECF, each year they give financial support to voluntary organisations and charities whose work is contributing to community safety in Essex.
“There were a few raised eyebrows at first when the scheme was put forward, but those with doubts became convinced that it was a good idea,” said Charles. “The concept is unique to Essex, but I would hope that in time, other police forces around the UK might work with their local community foundation in a similar way.”
After serving as a trustee and chairman of ECF, Charles became involved with community foundations across the UK, becoming a board member of UK Community Foundations and travelling across the country to help promote and develop their work.
As a vice-president of ECF, an OBE, a Queen’s Police Medal recipient and a deputy lieutenant of Essex, Charles, now retired from the Essex police force, is a much-respected figure.
Over the coming years Charles and Sue will introduce their two daughters and their families to ECF to ensure the Clark Family Fund continues to support young people for years to come.
He maintains his passion for the transformational work that community foundations can carry out in encouraging philanthropy and supporting the vital work of community and voluntary groups.
“I still talk to people as often as I can about giving money locally and how rewarding this can be. There is still a lot of scope for ECF for the future and, particularly at this time, its work is needed now more than ever,” he said.
New charitable fund to keep hearts beating in Essex
16th October 2020
A new charitable fund with its heart firmly in Essex has been launched with a pledge to spend money raised in the county on cardiac services for the county.
Essex Heart Fund has been set up by two local consultant cardiologists, Dr Gerald Clesham and Dr Thomas Keeble, along with charity specialist Fred Heddell, to bring major improvements to the lives of Essex heart patients and their families.
The fund will be managed by the highly respected independent charitable trust, Essex Community Foundation. Money donated to the Essex Heart Fund will only be spent in Essex, on community services and support groups, on the development of new hospital-based clinical services and to support local cardiovascular education and research.
Dr Clesham, who works at Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford and at the Essex Cardiothoracic Centre in Basildon, said: “We know that the people of Essex are already very generous in donating to heart charities, however, only a tiny fraction of the money donated to national heart charities finds its way back to Essex. Our aim in setting up the Essex Heart Fund is to raise charitable funds for cardiac care in Essex and ensure that the money is spent in Essex.
“The fund will help support groups for patients and their families in the community, will fund new clinical services and will promote cardiovascular research and teaching in local hospitals and the community.
“Heart conditions are still the commonest causes of premature death and are a major cause of disability. Cardiac services in Essex serve a population of about 1.8 million people and we are confident that channelling more money into local services will result in an improved outcome for heart patients.”
Dr Clesham, who has been a consultant in Essex for 20 years, is president of the Chelmsford and District Cardiac Support Group and sees at first-hand how patients can often feel unsupported after being discharged from hospital.
“Helping patients in the community is a very effective way of keeping people well and the Essex Heart Fund will help cardiac patient support groups develop in Essex,” he said.
The fund will also enable new clinical services to be launched in Essex hospitals and the aim is for the NHS to commission the services when they have proved to be a success.
Locally based cutting-edge research and teaching in hospitals and the community will be another major area supported by the fund.
The initiatives will not only benefit patients but will also help with recruitment and retention of hospital staff, said Dr Clesham.
He and Dr Keeble, who works at Southend Hospital and the Cardiothoracic Centre in Basildon, will be active in the Essex community to promote the fund and provide education about heart health.
“The Essex Heart Fund will have its own identity and we are pleased to be working with Essex Community Foundation as our umbrella organisation to provide all the relevant charity governance, which enables us to concentrate on the areas we want to support,” said Dr Clesham.
To find out more about the new Essex Heart Fund and to make a donation visit: www.essexheartfund.org.uk
DONATE TO ESSEX HEART FUND:
To donate £5, text ESSEXHF to 70970
To donate £10, text ESSEXHF to 70191
Revealing how COVID-19 has impacted local groups
8th October 2020
We launched our community listening project, ECF Listens, by surveying over 800 organisations about the impact COVID-19 has had on their work.
An amazing 323 voluntary organisations responded and we hosted a Zoom webinar on 24 September to reveal and discuss our findings with them. The event provided a space for reflection and to start a conversation to identify areas of work that we could prioritise within our grantmaking.
This online event was chaired by Jo Wells, Director of the Blagrave Trust and one of our Trustees. Joining the conversation with Jo was Rachel Brett, CEO of the Essex Council for Voluntary Youth Services and Sharon Alexander, CEO of Tendring CVS and Andy Payne Warpole, Head of Programmes at ECF.
It enabled us to bring organisations of all sizes together, acknowledging the strength and importance of their work in their local communities at such a time of crisis. During the webinar, we discussed the contribution from, and the impact on, small grassroots organisations, explore opportunities where they could work more closely together, and the importance of being able to share ideas and concerns, so they are not alone in facing this challenge.
We also discussed the impact COVID-19 has had on the mental health of their teams, the need to strengthen leadership and governance of grassroots groups, the importance of attracting funds to cover core costs and the loss of volunteers due to restrictions.
Matt King, from Trust Links, commented: “It is great to see that ECF is listening to its grantees and is keen to respond to the needs of charities and groups in a holistic and thoughtful way. ECF has a crucial role to play both in providing vital funding, and in helping to build the capacity of groups to respond to the needs of people. COVID-19 has had a profound effect on charities and community groups, reducing our fundraising income and increasing demand on our services. I congratulate ECF in taking a leading role in highlighting this dilemma and working to help address it”
Key findings:
-1 in 4 face real financial challenges
-2 in 5 have modified their delivery model
-1 in 5 had to stop delivery completely
You can watch the webinar below:
Helping local charities to survive challenging times
3rd September 2020
Charities and voluntary organisations struggling to survive and keep their services going during these unprecedented and challenging times, have been given a lifeline by Essex Community Foundation (ECF), which has distributed grants totalling almost £5 million over the past 12 months.
City of Chelmsford Mencap, the Essex-wide CVS voluntary services network and the Colchester-based organisation, African Families in the UK, are among those given urgent funding from ECF, a leading independent charitable trust.
Ever since it was founded in 1996, ECF has been at the forefront of supporting voluntary and community organisations in Essex by awarding grants from the charitable funds it manages on behalf of philanthropic families, individuals, businesses and public agencies.
Now ECF’s work is more vital than ever, as the coronavirus pandemic has had the devastating double effect of hitting the finances of charities and voluntary groups at a time when they are trying to meet an increasing demand.
Caroline Taylor, chief executive of ECF said: “We have a long-established and close relationship with the voluntary sector in Essex and are acutely aware that they are heading towards a cliff-edge, desperately needing core funding to survive. The coronavirus pandemic has had a catastrophic effect on fundraising events and many charities and voluntary organisations are struggling to keep going.
“The fact that we have been able to award grants totalling almost £5 million over the past year, as well as taking immediate action through our Essex Coronavirus Response and Recovery Programme, has been a lifeline for many voluntary sector groups in the county.
“We have been especially pleased to support projects set up by volunteers and community hubs that have helped vulnerable people and also organisations that quickly adapted their services to meet local needs. We know there will be further difficult times ahead for the voluntary sector, but we will be there to help, now and in the future.
“Even though we awarded a record amount over the last 12 months, we are still not able to fund all of the requests that we receive. If local people or businesses want to support charities and community groups in Essex, please contact us through our website, by e-mail or telephone. We also encourage voluntary organisations and community groups to keep in contact and follow us on social media as we are promoting new funding opportunities all of the time.”
Funding from ECF enabled City of Chelmsford Mencap to establish a “Virtual Academy” during lockdown. Grace Lidstone, services manager for the charity said: “We had to close our lifelong learning service and social clubs for adults with a learning disability.
“The Virtual Academy has helped prevent service users from losing skills and becoming socially isolated. We have been able to provide our usual timetable online or by telephone, and specialist staff made regular welfare checks on the most vulnerable people. The grant from ECF helped to fund staff, tutors and additional resources.”
African Families in the UK, based in Colchester, adapted its services for the BAME community also received funding through ECF’s COVID-19 response initiative.
Rachel Walton, BAME Community Development Consultant and co-Founder of African Families in the UK said: “Initial panic buying of foods and delays in deliveries during lockdown, caused difficulties in finding culturally appropriate food.
“The funding we received from ECF enabled us to help 52 families, 15 of whom are from the Bangladeshi community, providing food and support. This brought so many families peace of mind, but we have many who still require our assistance.
“We have also been able to provide training and help people get back to work as this is affecting their household income and ability to feed their family.”
The Essex-wide Community Voluntary Service (CVS) Network has played a pivotal role in the county throughout the Coronavirus pandemic, rising to the challenge of supporting the voluntary sector and their communities and co-ordinating a local response to help people in need. Chelmsford CVS was among the organisations across the county to receive a grant from ECF and the funding helped launch a volunteer initiative.
Lorraine Jarvis, CEO of Chelmsford CVS said: “The community response to help those isolated due to the pandemic, has been incredible, especially at a very local level. As a charity that supports voluntary action, we received hundreds of calls from people wanting to help or seeking guidance on how to set up a neighbourhood support group.
“We checked and signed up 176 amazing volunteers who began picking up requests for support from our helpline. We worked in partnership with Chelmsford City Council and their staff and council members rallied quickly, with over 100 coming forward to help with emergency food delivery.
“Within days of lockdown, people began to self-mobilise and over 30 new volunteer groups were also ready to help their neighbours. Thousands of local people, in a co‑ordinated effort, helped those isolated and vulnerable across Chelmsford. Our heartfelt thanks and that of the community, go to all.”
For more information about ECF, how to support local charities through them or to apply for a grant, visit their website www.essexcommunityfoundation.org.uk or call 01245 355947.
Essex entrepreneur pledges to support people struggling with their mental health
17th August 2020
Aron Priest’s path in life has taken him from incredible peaks to the deepest depths. He left school without qualifications, took an apprenticeship as a printer and went on to become a self-made millionaire after selling his pioneering online printing business.
In 2018 he was made a Freeman of the City of London to mark his outstanding 30-year contribution to the printing industry.
A cycling accident led to one of the greatest challenges of his life, dealing with post-traumatic stress syndrome. Now Aron’s experiences and determination to help others have led to the latest step in his remarkable life, the launch of a charitable fund, The Priest Foundation.
The fund is being managed by the independent charitable trust Essex Community Foundation (ECF) and will give grants to people with mental health problems so they can access the counselling they need.
Aron has joined the ranks of a growing number of local philanthropists who have set up named funds with ECF to give back to the communities where they have strong business and family connections.
From an early age Aron, who lives in Rayleigh showed his entrepreneurial and hard-working nature. He grew up in Hullbridge and attended The Park School in Rayleigh, leaving in 1988.
He said: “I had various jobs while I was at school, including paper boy, milkman and greengrocer. I had a decision to make about my future when I left school, as my grades really were not great, a D in pottery was my highest score.
“I chose to go into printing, as my Grandad was a printer and so was my Dad. I had a look through the Yellow Pages listings and rang all the printing companies from A onwards. I got to D and I managed to get myself an interview with a company called Dellprint.
“I got the job, but the wage was only £50 a week, so I went home spoke to my Dad. I was on £90 a week as a greengrocer at the time, but my Dad immediately told me to go with the printing apprenticeship. So, in 1988 at the age of 16, I started my five-year apprenticeship. When I finished, I was still on £50 a week, so I moved on soon afterwards.
“I had a burning desire to work for myself and in 2000 I opened up a company called ACP Print. I met my business partner, Andy Smith, shortly after that and we joined forces, trading as Solopress.
“We moved online in 2005 which propelled us into a new stratosphere. We were a great team and before long we had 100 staff and achieved a 30 percent growth year on year. It was never our intention to sell the business, but a company made an offer to buy the firm in 2015. The deal didn’t come to fruition, but the offer helped us to realise we had something tangible to sell.
“So, in 2017 we negotiated a deal with a large group called Online Printers. This allowed me to stay on if I chose to and I am now in a new role, as an active adviser to the company. When we sold, we had 350 employees and we were turning over £31 million, the timing couldn’t have been better.
“I wanted to give something to give back to the industry, which I do by giving tours at the great Stationers Hall in London which gives people an insight into the history of print. I am also volunteering in schools to help mentor young people who are on the cusp of taking their GCSEs, to let them know that if you are not academic there are other options, such as apprenticeships.
“My involvement with ECF and my motivation to help others facing mental health problems came about because of my own experiences. In 2014 I had an accident on my road bike during a race called the Tour of Dengie. Afterwards I was diagnosed PTSD and I had no idea what that was.
“I just I knew I wasn’t myself for a very long time. I struggled being around lots of people and felt very depressed, something I had never believed in before. Fortunately, I had private health insurance to get the support I needed, and I was lucky enough to see a therapist for the next year. With the support of my family and exercise I got myself back on track and I will never forget the people who helped me.
“I realised there are many people out there suffering in silence with their mental health, so in 2019 I decided I wanted to give something back and started The Priest Foundation. I set up the fund with ECF because they do all the administration for the charity, which allows me, my family and friends to concentrate on fundraising.
“All requests for grants will come through ECF who will then provide us with the information so that as a family we can make decisions on who to help. My wife Lee and our children Ella, who is 19 and Macie, aged 13, are all going to be involved in fundraising, with various events such as mud runs, a Halloween Ball and cycling events. I would like to keep fundraising until I can’t do so anymore.
“We have just developed a website and a JustGiving page and have various ways of donating. I’m really enthused by the passion everyone has shown to want to help people in our community.
The more money we have in the Foundation, the more people we can help in the Rochford and Southend areas to access the support they need and get on the road to recovery.”
For information on how we help individuals and families to fulfill their charitable wishes and why they choose to give through us, click here.