Building strong communities through The Leeds Fund

Thanks to the generous support of local businesses and individuals, we invested more than £450,000 in Leeds communities through our flagship programme, The Leeds Fund, in 2023. 

 

What is The Leeds Fund? 

The Leeds Fund supports the vital services of local Community Organisations. Our grants tackle social issues and inequalities which may otherwise go unaddressed, making sure people get the support they need, when they need it the most.  

Since 2016, we’ve invested almost £3m through The Leeds Fund, supporting mental health, addressing loneliness and isolation, promoting enterprise and employability and, most recently, building strong Community Organisations.  

Together, we’ve supported more than 21,000 people in our city, making Leeds a wonderful, enriched place full of opportunities for everyone. 

 

The Leeds Fund Strategic Grants 

Since 2021, The Leeds Fund Strategic Grants have supported local Community Organisations to focus on their own development, so they can continue to be there for people in our communities for years to come. 

2-year grants of £30,000 and a programme of wraparound support help organisations to work on their purpose, finance & operations, need & impact, leadership, networks and more. By investing in this way, leaders are resourced to take the time they need to strengthen their organisations so they can better support their communities, and the results have been transformative. 

78% said their grant from The Leeds Fund improved their organisation’s sustainability or enabled them to become self-sustaining. Organisations also reported securing more than £1m of additional funding thanks to their grants from The Leeds Fund. 

Kidz Klub said “This is a brilliant Leeds Community Foundation initiative. Support from the fund has enabled our leadership team to focus on key strategic areas that really matter yet can often get squished out. Thank you for seeing the need and securing support for an innovative fund like this. It has been an invaluable support to us as we have emerged from the pandemic.” 

 

The Leeds Fund Microgrants 

The Leeds Fund Microgrants support small Community Organisations to deliver a wide range of activities that improve the lives of local people. They enable organisations to test ideas, expand their activities, improve their sustainability and grow.  

In 2023, we invested almost £34,000 in 15 grassroots Community Organisations through The Leeds Fund Microgrants.  

The funded activities included making art, a variety of sports and physical activity, growing food and greening a local area. Other activities focused on financial literacy, mentoring and on-the-job training, and developing a still new organisation to maintain its sustainability and grow. 

More than 2,200 local people were supported by activities funded by The Leeds Fund Microgrants in 2023. 

 

Support The Leeds Fund 

It’s only thanks to the generosity of local businesses and individuals that we can invest in our communities through The Leeds Fund. 

Our Community Organisations are under immense pressure. The pandemic, followed by the cost-of-living crisis, have caused demand for services to rise while costs have increased. The voluntary and community sector’s workforce saw a 34% drop between 2020 and 2022, and last year we could only fund 30% of the grant applications we received.  

Now, more than ever, we need to come together to support our communities. 

Tim Hodgson, Managing Director of Westcourt Group says “Leeds Community Foundation is a powerful conduit which helps so many organisations doing great work to help thousands of individuals across the region.  

There are large swathes of the city where people are living in extreme poverty and the difference in life expectancy can be as much as 12 years depending on postcodes. That’s stark.  

Supporting the Foundation is about ‘looking after your own’ – helping neighbours in the place we all call home.” 

Find out how you can play your part and support The Leeds Fund here.