Berkshire Community Foundation

Reading, Berkshire ~ Services
The Foundation is committed to helping you make a lasting impact in your local community.

About us:

Since 1985, the Foundation has been building a Community Capital Fund to provide grants to small voluntary groups that tackle need at the grassroots of our local community, both now and in the future.

Donations from individuals, companies and Charitable Trusts are pooled in the Foundation’s Community Capital Fund from which the Foundation draws income to make its grants. Simple really! This also means that your donation works year after year generating income for grant making year on year on year…

Our main grant making is directed to:

* The elderly
* Children and young people
* People with a long-term illness or disability, and their carers
* People with mental health needs
* Minority ethnic communities
* Those suffering from addiction

The Foundation aims to support the smaller groups who are doing vital work but who have real difficulties in raising funds.

Significant Pockets of Deprivation in Berkshire

The county has two different aspects: rural West Berkshire where the problems are associated with social isolation, with issues such as transport for people without cars.

Those affected are often disadvantaged in other ways – elderly, disabled, young or seeking employment. East Berkshire is the more urbanised area, with pockets of unemployment, deprivation and poor educational attainment and more “inner city” issues.

The Foundation is aware of the detailed issues facing each local authority and uses the research-based Community Needs Survey* as the context for grant making.

We always have to prioritise and make difficult decisions as we have many more applicants than we can fund.

The Foundation is a very flexible instrument for local charitable giving. People give for a wide range of personal reasons and the Foundation is geared to meeting whatever a donor’s wishes are.

The donation can be a single payment, a legacy, or spread over several years and it can also be a Gift of Shares or Property. Whatever the donation is, it can be geared to address a particular issue, such as older people or people with a disability, for a particular geographical locality or left to the Community Foundation to utilise in addressing the priority needs it has identified in its Community Needs Survey. The Foundation can help donors make their decisions and to set up a Named Fund to address the issues they stipulate, with whatever degree of control they wish.

Contact Details:

Berkshire Community Foundation
Arlington Business Park
Theale
Reading
Berkshire
RG7 4SA

Telephone: 0118 930 3021