The pandemic has highlighted that lack of online access is a serious issue that limits people’s life chances and wellbeing. Getting Oxfordshire Online will refurbish devices donated by the public and local businesses for school children, isolated older people and others in need.
As she reaches the end of her year as High Sheriff of Oxfordshire, Amanda has been touring the county presenting awards to the many grassroots community groups and charities she has met since April 2020. Despite the pandemic, Amanda has succeeded in raising awareness and funds for a huge number of causes, and used her awards as a chance to recognise the hard work and dedication of the voluntary sector.
Donations to our Community Resilience Fund reached new heights in January, as a result of our appeal to fund urgent projects responding to the third lockdown. We are so grateful for the generosity of our supporters, which means we are able to meet the immediate priorities, and are now looking to the next few months to understand ongoing community needs.
Thanks to the generosity of the community, Oxfordshire Homeless Movement (OHM) was able to raise funds that will now be used to help those at the sharp end of homelessness. OCF hosts OHM’s project management and fundraising.
OCF’s latest grants round, opened last week in response to lockdown 3, has been overwhelmed with applications, indicating a great continued frontline need. We are therefore appealing for donations to help support this response.
Our annual impact report argues that COVID-19 is creating a whole new world – and we must make sure it is one that we want to live in. This is why our work on the priorities identified long before the pandemic has never been more needed.
Oxfordshire Homeless Movement (OHM) is appealing to local residents, visitors and workers to help them ensure no-one has to sleep rough in our county in 2021 and beyond.
Around 60 donors and supporters gathered on Zoom for our first ever online Giving Tuesday event. They heard from philanthropists who have chosen to support OCF, such as Will and Fran Perrin, about the importance of giving locally, and discovered more about our COVID response and strategic programmes.
Every pound donated up to £30,000 will be doubled to help disadvantaged communities improve children’s school readiness with our match-funding initiative on The Good Exchange. The match starts on Giving Tuesday and runs for the next 10 months.
After the initial shock of lockdown, families taking part in OCF’s Growing Minds early years programme are adapting to the ‘new normal’: social distancing, fewer face-to-face services, and rapid acceleration in the development of online services.