Our Supporters: Local Care Direct

Local Care Direct is a Social Enterprise delivering healthcare services across Yorkshire and the Humber. They provide urgent dental and medical services, and support the delivery of primary care services, working with partners across the region. 

We caught up with Paul Dean, Company Secretary, about our partnership, and why they choose to invest in local communities through Leeds Community Foundation. 

 

How have you been involved with Leeds Community Foundation? 

We have donated money to create a fund with Leeds Community Foundation called the Local Care Direct Health and Wellbeing Fund. The fund has run in 2021 and 2023 and has invested in 38 Community Organisations across Leeds, Bradford and Wakefield to deliver activities focussed on reducing health inequalities. We sat on the funding panel, helping to select the organisations whose objectives most closely matched our fund criteria.  

We have also become Members of the Foundation during that period and been on visits to Community Organisations who have previously worked with the Foundation. We have also attended a number of events organised by the Foundation. 

We have developed some great working relationships with staff at the Foundation, which has considerably enhanced our understanding of the challenges facing communities in Leeds, Bradford and Wakefield. 

 

How important is social value to you? 

As a Social Enterprise working across Leeds, Bradford, Wakefield, Kirklees and Calderdale, social value is extremely important to us. 

We see supporting our communities as really important and working with Foundations has enabled to do this in a really focussed way. 

Our fund has enabled us to support vulnerable communities and others who feel the impact of health inequality.  

 

What community issues are important to you? 

At the start of our journey with the Foundation, we asked our staff what was important to them and there were 5 top issues that stood out – homelessness, isolation, dementia, poverty and one that runs alongside all of these, mental health. The relationship with reducing health inequality became obvious and this formed the basis of our fund specification. 

We also know that there is clear evidence that unmet social needs are linked to overall decline in health and that people from lower socio-economic groups tend to experience multiple and chronic health issues. The British Red Cross recently observed that their work shows a clear link between deprivation and demand for emergency health services. These things are all very relevant to our work at Local Care Direct. 

 

Has the pandemic and cost-of-living crisis altered the way you view investment into communities? 

It was during the pandemic that we started working with Leeds Community Foundation, and it provided a backdrop to our engagement. At the start there was speculation that 25% of charities would have difficulties as traditional forms of fund raising were denied them, but we’ve been really impressed to see the resilience of the sector during this time and the ability of Leeds Community Foundation to help us focus and direct our funding to where it’s needed most. 

With regard to the cost-of-living crisis, we have become acutely aware of the impact on vulnerable groups. It has aggravated existing issues for people and created issues for some of those not previously affected, as basics such as energy, food and housing costs have escalated.  

The situation has really highlighted the value of education and signposting individuals to organisations who can provide support, and while that’s not been the main focus of our funding, we have increasingly recognised the value of organisations engaged in this work. 

 

How has working with the Foundation impacted the way you view investment across Leeds, Bradford and Wakefield? 

We predominantly work across West Yorkshire and have partnered with 3 community foundations across the region, including Leeds Community Foundation.  

We have recognised that deprivation and poverty exist across the whole of our geographical footprint including Leeds where there is sometimes a perception that the City is not affected by some of the challenges elsewhere.  For example, we visited a Community Organisation that was educating kids above a skate park on a back street in Leeds, and that genuinely shocked me. 

There’s real evidence of unmet need across all of the areas where we operate. Our fund has been oversubscribed by a factor of four or five.  

This has really emphasised the scale of need which is not met by mainstream organisations and at times it has been disappointing, to say the least, that we cannot help but hopefully other organisations can.  

 

Have you got any advice for organisations that are looking to support Leeds Community Foundation? 

Yes – just do it. The Foundation will work with you to understand what you have in mind and how that can be matched to needs in communities. Working with the Foundation has really enabled us to develop a broader and deeper understanding of what’s happening out there in our communities. Our relationship with the Foundation has not only been about making an impact, but also about raising personal and corporate awareness of the challenges faced by individuals and communities. 

The Foundation also know what Community Organisations need, and we have certainly changed our approach on grant size and fund structure as a result of their advice and guidance. We are convinced this has helped to maximise the impact of our funding. 

 

Leeds Community Foundation creates opportunities for all by working with partners to make a positive impact within communities across Leeds and Bradford. We do this by generating and investing philanthropic giving as well as maximising statutory funding to deliver grants and provide trusted expertise into Community Organisations, benefitting thousands of local people.

 

Read more about how you can support Leeds Community Foundation here.