Oxfordshire Community Foundation’s grant-making plans for the year have been announced, offering a wide variety of grants to support Oxfordshire’s grassroots charities.
We are pleased to unveil our grants for the year ahead, helping local charitable organisations to plan ahead. Our aspiration for our grant-making is to be the leading community grant-maker in Oxfordshire. We want to be known for the way we have embedded equity, diversity and inclusion, environment, and innovation into grant-making.
We continue to work towards better grant-making and ensuring equal access to all our applicants. The Grants Team have been bringing in changes towards a more straightforward funding process: being clearer about funding criteria; simplifying forms; opening for in-person and virtual drop-ins; and giving feedback to those who are not successful. Nonetheless, we always welcome feedback on how to improve.
Over the next year we will be launching the following grants rounds:
- May 2025 – Thriving in Nature Fund: This fund, now in its second year, will help more people prosper by engaging with green spaces and the rural environment. The focus will be on improving health and wellbeing, and nurturing work opportunities, by supporting charitable organisations to unite people with nature.
- June, August and October 2025 – Step Change Fund: This fund focusses on capacity building, helping charities to transform the way they are organised in order to make their desired step change to increase reach and impact.
- November 2025 – Living Essentials Fund: Building on last year’s Living Essentials grants round and our earlier cost-of-living grant-making, we will help charitable organisations to provide this crucial ongoing support, working together to ensure people have the basics needed for living a stable and safe life. Grants will help to secure basics such as food, housing and warm spaces.
- January 2026 – Didcot Powerhouse Fund: Groups in the Didcot area are able to benefit from this fund to create a more inclusive and sustainable community, helping to level up the pockets of deprivation.
In addition, in the autumn we hope to build on previous Community Capacity funding to help people live happily and independently in their own communities as long as possible.
More details about each grants round will be shared with charitable organisations prior to their launch. If you would like to find out about future grants rounds please sign up to receive relevant emails.
Contact our Grants Team if you have any queries about any of our grants.