The Didcot Powerhouse Fund, hosted by Oxfordshire Community Foundation, celebrates the impact of local projects that are making a significant change in the lives of neighbours in their community.
On 31st March, a special Didcot Powerhouse Fund impact event took place at the European Space Agency’s Conference Centre at Harwell Science & Innovation Campus. 150 representatives attended from business, science, charities, local government and key stakeholders, together with community leaders, to celebrate the impact achieved by the 21 local projects that received Powerhouse grants in 2024, totalling £108,000.
Since Powerhouse launched just over three years ago, 56 grants have been made totalling £283,000. For each grant at least 90% of beneficiaries are local, living in the Powerhouse area, which stretches right across Didcot to the villages of Culham in the North, Blewbury in the South, and includes the science campuses of Harwell, Culham and Milton Park.
Elizabeth Paris, Chair of The Didcot Powerhouse Fund said:
“The impact already achieved by these local charities with Powerhouse funding is truly impressive, and fuels Powerhouse’s evolving goal for 2032, to make Greater Didcot and the surrounding villages one of the best places to live in Oxfordshire, and even in the UK.”
Now in it’s third year of gathering feedback on impact, there is beginning to be enough data to analyse where Powerhouse funds are achieving the greatest impact. Three themes are emerging which will guide Powerhouse as it grows over the coming years:
- Theme one: funding for sustainability – The first theme is that where we have been able to offer sustained funding this can achieve cumulative benefits that are greater than the sum of the individual grants.
- Theme two: trusting grass roots activities – The second theme links to the insight that to support a community you first need to understand how it is unique. Local knowledge has enabled Powerhouse to identify those small groups with the potential to achieve huge impact, supporting them not just with funding but also with connections and practical guidance on governance.
- Theme three: filling the gaps – The third emerging theme is that Powerhouse can play a significant role in identifying where there are gaps in resources for local citizens and provide the seed funding to attract charities to come to Greater Didcot and start offering that resource.
The event also announced the 14 organisations that will be receiving a grant in 2025, totalling £100,000. Four grant recipients are new to Powerhouse and include a grant to Survivor Space Oxfordshire to establish a satellite rape crisis Centre in Didcot, and a grant to Dialogue Society Oxford to bring into Didcot schools the “Life of a Chickpea” intercultural seminar series which recently won a BBC “Making a Difference Award.” Previous Powerhouse grant recipients who received further grants include The Cornermen, for helping to prevent male suicide, My Life My Choice for empowering local adults with learning disabilities, and Didcot Baby Monday to enable them to expand their services for parents and babies.
Event attendee, local MP Olly Glover said:
“Every grant boosts help and support directly to where it’s needed in our community, accurately guided by members of the Powerhouse Grants Panel who know the area’s needs well. Charity staff and volunteers in and around Didcot contribute their time and expertise on a day to day basis but need financial backing to ensure they remain viable in the long term.”
Find out more about the Didcot Powerhouse Fund, or how to become a donor.