At the end of November, OCF once again launched its annual Surviving Winter appeal alongside other community foundations in the UK. Now in its fifth year, we believe this continues to provide a great opportunity for us to raise awareness of the challenges faced by older and vulnerable people.
The Beacon Awards for Philanthropy has launched a search for inspirational philanthropists in the UK. As local Beacon agents, Oxfordshire Community Foundation are keen to find nominees from Oxfordshire for the prestigious philanthropy awards, which will be presented in April 2015.
It was with great sadness that we heard of the passing of The Duke of Marlborough yesterday, who was our patron and a great friend of Oxfordshire Community Foundation. The Duke had his home at Blenheim Palace in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, and was an esteemed ambassador for our community foundation. Our thoughts are with his wife, family and friends at this time.
Oxfordshire Community Foundation’s CEO Jayne Woodley has been shortlisted for the Employee of the Year Venus Award. The Venus Awards reward high-achieving Oxfordshire businesswomen for their professional contribution, and Jayne has been recognised in several categories.
Oxfordshire Community Foundation awarded £205,713.02 in grants to local community organisations from April 2013 to March 2014, benefiting Oxfordshire residents of all ages, ethnicities and abilities. Charities from every corner of the county received a boost for the great work they are doing to support Oxfordshire’s most disadvantaged.
Social enterprise Yellow Submarine use OCF grant to fund apprenticeships for learning disabled young people. Yellow Submarine applied for and was awarded a grant from the Oxfordshire Community Foundation that is directly helping to fund the apprenticeships.
Twenty local companies will be taking part in a charity choir this Thursday in support of Oxfordshire Community Foundation and other local charities. The firms are participating in the High Sheriff’s Challenge – an initiative of this year’s High Sheriff of Oxfordshire, Tony Stratton.
Oxfordshire Community Foundation awarded One-Eighty a grant at the end of 2013 to help with Kick Start, a special project aiming to strengthen relationships between pupils who were not ready to learn, and their parents.
We are taking part in the UK government’s Community First scheme. This scheme matches every pound given with a further 50p. Both donations and match funding go to a capital endowment fund that will continue to grow over time, giving us a sustainable pot of money that we can use for those in the local area who need it most.
Meech International was one of 18 companies that volunteered a team of five competitors for ‘The Olympic Challenge’, a specially organised sports day on 17 July to raise charitable funds for the Oxfordshire High Sheriff’s Challenge.