At an event to celebrate #GivingTuesday last night, John Lewis Oxford’s Branch Manager Julie Blake announced the launch of the Westgate Fund. The fund is held with Oxfordshire Community Foundation and will make grants to charities and community groups working with disadvantaged people in the city.
OCF will mark #GivingTuesday with a drinks reception at Tap Social Movement, a new brewery and social enterprise in Oxford that supports people serving prison sentences by providing work and training.
At OCF’s latest Funders’ Forum on 31st October 2017, local trusts and foundations heard from a leading Oxford homeless charity, and found out more about how they could fund projects collaboratively on The Good Exchange.
OCF was privileged to welcome Helen Stephenson, Chief Executive of the Charity Commission, to Oxford this week. Her visit was a chance to meet some of the charities OCF has funded, and collect feedback from the ground on the Commission’s role.
High Sheriff of Oxfordshire Jane Cranston took the opportunity to showcase the work of the voluntary sector and criminal justice system at her event last night at St Helen and St Katharine School in Abingdon.
OCF has just opened our next round of Delivering Impact grant funding. We are particularly seeking applications from groups that are working to reduce the affect of crime on children and families.
After joining Oxfordshire Community Foundation in September 2016 and completing a number of specific projects in support of OCF’s strategy, Julia Iball is moving on to develop her career further.
OCF is working with Oxford City Council, Community First Oxfordshire and Oxfordshire Community Land Trust to explore options on how community-led housing could be delivered sustainably within Oxford.
Barton and Blackbird Leys based charity Thrive develops young people to bring hope and lasting change to disadvantaged communities. Their annual Young Achievers Dinner and awards was a testament to the power of investing in young people.
During the past six months OCF’s processes, governance and business planning mechanisms have been evaluated by an independent assessor, achieving an overall Quality Accreditation score of 53 out of 55.