Below are the key named funds that we hold and manage on behalf of our donors and fundholders. We also manage several smaller funds, as well as some for donors who wish to remain completely anonymous.
Please note that in most cases, grant-seekers cannot apply directly to these funds; instead we work closely with these donors to channel their philanthropy to the causes they care about most, making grant funding available to community and voluntary organisations through our grants programmes and partnership working.
Oxford-based construction company Beard launched a charitable foundation to support staff community initiatives and construction education projects. The foundation was set up with a £250,000 donation from the Beard family and is held and managed by Oxfordshire Community Foundation.
The High Sheriff’s Community Integration fund brings together donors who want to help connect people from different backgrounds, build mutual understanding and encourage a sense of belonging to the wider community. This fund creates life-changing connections between people who would not normally meet. For every donation made to the fund, OCF will match fund it pound for pound, up to a total of £25,000.
David Harding is founder of Winton Capital Management, now one of the world’s largest hedge fund companies. Through their private foundation, he and his wife Claudia added a local element to their philanthropic portfolio by making a contribution to our endowment fund, which means that every quarter we receive dividend income that enables us to make around £60,000 in grants per year on their behalf.
The Fund for sankalpa invests in changemakers – people with the vision and ability to bring about systemic change, and positively shape our world for the future. By investing in known and trusted people, sankalpa avoids onerous administrative systems, ensuring funds are used to best effect.
This fund assists current and future High Sheriffs in raising money for charitable purposes. In the shrieval year 2017–2018 it is raising money for Jane Cranston’s initiative to promote justice and fairness of opportunity in Oxfordshire.
Jane Mactaggart chose OCF to advise and support her local charitable giving, finding it a unique way to access a portfolio of smaller charities that she may not have heard of otherwise. She makes an annual donation to her own fund, which is used to support charitable groups working for the causes that she feels most passionate about: mental health, asylum, and women’s issues in Oxfordshire.
The John Laing Charitable Trust, which is dedicated to corporate social responsibility for construction firm John Laing, is committed to helping smaller, local charities, and has therefore entered into agreement with five community foundations to provide small and vital grants on its behalf.
In 2008, after a short but intense period of depression, Maggie, who was only 29 years old, took her own life. Her parents Bob and Kati and brother David set up the Maggie Evans Fund with OCF in her memory. The fund is used to help children discover interests that were Maggie’s own passions: a love of reading stories and appreciating illustrations, and the exploration of different cultures through languages and translation.
Headquartered in Witney, specialist design and manufacturing firm Meech International established a named fund to commemorate their 100-years milestone. The Meech Centenary Trust supports young people in finding work or getting back into education in and around West Oxfordshire.
The Midcounties Co-operative uses local community foundations in order to administer their community grant-making. Members of the Co-operative can apply to the fund on behalf of a charitable organisation or community group that is working in an area where there is a Co-operative store.
Partners at local law firm Royds Withy King make an annual donation to an endowment fund with OCF. This fund enables us to continue our work by making a contribution towards our costs. In this way Royds Withy King is sharing in OCF’s success, and is also a committed member of our Reciprocate responsible business group.
This fund brings together a group of donors each willing to pledge up to £25,000 per year to help charities scale up their operation. Starting out as the Future-Building Fund, the successful pilot that ended in 2016 saw £600,000 in infrastructure grants made to 18 charities.
OCF’s Chair John Taylor and his wife Julie established their fund after making a share transfer to OCF. They are now working with OCF to channel their funds to the causes that matter most to them, making an important contribution to our grant-making.
OCF is leading on a joint initiative between its fellow Thames Valley community foundations, who are working together to turn the proceeds of crime into grants that reduce reoffending, prevent social problems and build community resilience.
This fund was established to coincide with the opening of the new Westgate shopping centre in Oxford in October 2017. This fund is flagship store John Lewis’s gift to the city of Oxford, and the company hopes that other businesses will come on board to co-create a lasting legacy that will be available to support Oxford-based charitable organisations over the long term.
“Modern teenagers need a voice and to feel that they are really being heard. This in turn will help nurture and shape an empathetic and compassionate society which we will all benefit from.”
“It is so uplifting to meet so many people blessed with generous hearts and a deep sense of community.”
“I really appreciate your work on what for my parents is such an important project. I am glad that the fund has been developing so positively and swiftly.”
“The huge satisfaction to be gained from spending one’s time in giving in your later years far outweighs any pleasures that you can possibly gain on the golf course, on the beach or on the back of the yacht in the Mediterranean sipping martinis.”
“I like to have something worthwhile to get up for each morning… I find that the larger and more strategic the gift, the more pleasure I get out of it.”
“I can’t get over it; I’m still shaking when I talk about it. It’s just incredible… I feel a bit guilty about getting so much pleasure out of giving!”
“Generosity is the best investment.”
“Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.”
“It is more difficult to give money away intelligently than to earn it in the first place.”
“I would never have known about many of the causes I’ve helped if the community foundation hadn’t told me about them. They are doing vital work and they need our support.”
“I am incredibly grateful to be part of OCF. The phenomenal support we’ve had has meant we can keep going; reach more vulnerable and distressed people and pay for our magical herd of horses.”
“Prosperity requires not just investment in economic capital, but also in social capital. Community foundations are playing a critical role in helping to deliver a more inclusive capitalism.”
The Ark T Centre is an arts project in East Oxford, and is situated in a high-risk area for Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE). Ark T is an open and inclusive community, where people, art, and powerful ideas come together, using the transformative powers of creativity to change lives.
SOFEA alleviates multiple social problems: the need for jobs and training for disadvantaged young people; the demand for nutritious food for vulnerable people; and the danger of supplies from the food industry going to waste.
Good Food Oxford supports the existing work of many organisations in and around the city working to make our food system more nourishing, less wasteful and more sustainable.
