OUR IMPACT in Merseyside.
The Community Foundation for Merseyside was established in 1999. In our 12 year history we have distributed almost £45 million to 9,000 individuals, charities, community groups and voluntary organisations on behalf of over 60 donors, philanthropists, funders and commissioners across all six Merseyside boroughs.
We carry out extensive research which helps us indentify needs in every borough across the county and we use this knowledge to help inform our donors in their grant making. Please see below a short film about our project of the year and follow the links on the left for a sample of some of our other work benefitting local communities.
Did you Know....
In 2011 we distributed almost £1.8million to communities of Merseyside which equates to £1.40 for every single person living in the region.
In the last year alone over 130,000 people have benefitted from Community Foundation funding which is one in every ten of Merseyside’s population.
In our 12 year history we have awarded grants to around 9,500 community groups and individuals so that’s about 1,583 in each borough of Merseyside!
Since we were established we have given out around £46 million in to the community which is enough to buy you 6 of the world’s most expensive cars or about half of Christiano Ronaldo. We think our money has been well spent!
23 Foundation success!
23 Foundation grant recipient achieves success stateside!
Alex Clarke received a grant from 23 Foundation to support him financially whilst completing his studies in America over four years. Alex is currently studying a four year communications course in Notre Dame, South Bend Indiana and this year has been made captain of his university football team; ‘Holy Cross’. Under Alex’s leadership, the team has broken every record in the team’s history; alongside having their highest ever league finish. Alex has had increasing interest from professional scouts who have been impressed with his performances this season; however he stresses that although he is very proud of this, he is determined to work hard and keep his feet on the ground to ensure that he has the best possible chance of achieving all of his goals. He recently had trials for St Louis Lions – a Professional Development League that is designed to give the top players in the NAIA league the right developmental programme so that they can be drafted into the professional leagues. There was a lot of pressure to make history for ‘Holy Cross’ as up until recently, nobody in the team had been selected to play at PDL level, let alone be given a trial. After weeks of intensive training, Alex gained a well deserved place on the team (with his training kit number for the trial being number 23!). For a boy whose dream has always been to make it as a professional footballer, this is a step in the right direction to make this a reality. We look forward to hearing from Alex in the summer months regarding his first season as a St Louis Lion, go Alex!
Santander SEDA Awards
It is with great pleasure that we welcome you to the Santander Social Enterprise Development Awards winners’ celebration
In 2011 Santander piloted their Social Enterprise Development Awards in collaboration with Community Foundations accross the uk. The Awards are available to Social Enterprises who have been trading for 2 years or more to assist with their continued devlopment. Below are details of the businesses supported in Merseyside
Can Cook CIC
Did you know that up to 60% of adults no longer cook at home? At Can Cook, our mission is to start a cookery revolution – to get people off the fast food bandwagon and excited about cooking and food once again!
Speke-based Can Cook runs a cookery school, manages cafes and provides local families and young people, as well as those in prisons and hospitals, with cookery skills training. The award will help the enterprise to develop a ‘Kitchen Share’ incubator hub for small food businesses.
www.cancook.co.uk
Wellbeing Enterprises CIC
Wellbeing Enterprises is an award winning social enterprise provides community based interventions to help people in St. Helens improve their mental wellbeing. The award will enable the enterprise to expand their operations across the Merseyside region. Thier mission is to support individuals and communities to achieve better health and wellbeing. We do this by educating the general public; unlocking the assets within our communities and working collaboratively with our partners to tackle the underlying causes of poor health.
www.wellbeingproject.co.uk
Squash Nutrition
Squash Nutrition is a collective of food-loving creative professionals who want to share the good food. The Liverpool-based Social Enterprise works with deprived communities to embrace the environment and food production, as tools for creative social inclusion and wellbeing. The award will enable the enterprise to expand their community apiary of urban honey-bees and develop new products to sell.www.squashnutrition.org
Project of the Year 2012
The Open Door Centre
The Spirit of Merseyside Awards celebrates best practice and recognises the hard work and achievements accross the community and voluntary sector in Merseyside. Each year one stand out project is awarded the coveted 'Project of the Year' accolade and this year it went to the Open Door Centre in the Wirral. See a short film about the organisation here
The Open Door Centre is a new project based in the Wirral that provides services for young people suffering from depression, stress and anxiety by identifying the underlying causes and providing practical solutions. Their aim is for the centre to become a safe haven where young people in the community can come and feel comfortable enough to talk about the issues that are dealing with. It has been embraced by a wide range of services and generally the community at large, and has reached people who were at a loss as to which direction to turn. Those who have completed the treatment have shown clear, tangible and measureable improvement in their mental health and overall wellbeing.
The judges felt this new project had not only clearly identified a need in the community, but had in a short space of time established itself as a valued and successful project. It has quickly demonstrated the benefits for the wellbeing of the people and community it serves. The judges have chosen this project as the overall winner for many reasons; this brand new initiative has been recognised for the tenacity of the project leader in driving this forward through its early stages and overcoming difficulties in an area where there was little provision. They felt this project showed innovation, has already achieved successes and unexpected outcomes, and above all the commitment from the project leader is inspiring.
Not just about Merseyside!
In 2012 Central Cheshire Buddy Scheme (CCBS) were successful in securing funding from our Comic Relief Local Communities fund for an out and about Club for children and people with disabilities including Feotal Alcohol Syndrome, Cerebral palsy, Learning disabilities, Genetic conditions and behaviour and emotional difficulties.
Since the launch the group have been on a number of other trips including
• Cycling at Wythenshawe park in Manchester.
• Football at Crewe Alex every Friday during the Summer holidays
• Stratford residential weekend – Snow Dome at Tamworth, Ten Pin Bowling and Warwick Castle.
• Blackpool illuminations – walking along the prom through the lights.
• Pantomime at Crewe Lyceum
The children loved the cycling one young man does not have a bike at home so he really enjoyed trying all the bikes at Wythenshawe. Wythenshawe was ideal as it had a rage of bikes the young people could ride, they raced each other round.
“I loved the bikes, it was great fun whizzing round the track”.
“Football training with Crewe Alex was great, they gave us a medal at the end, I took it home and showed it to my mum, she thought it was great”.
“I loved the football sessions, it was great to get training by Crewe Alex people”.
The residential weekend involved an overnight stay in a Youth Hostel in Stratford.
The day started with a swim session at the Snow Dome in Tamworth. All the children were excited about the swimming. Some were not very good swimmers but were helped and supported by their friends. The group had a good team spirit and some of the more able children supported those with physical disabilities to complete the float. It was nice to see them helping each other working as a team.
In the afternoon the group drove to Stratford and set up their rooms. After tea the group built a den in the woods (supervised by staff) and worked well as a team. Later the group went bowling, 2 members had never been bowling before. On Sunday after breakfast the group travelled to Warwick Castle. They walked round, looked at the birds of prey round the castle and at the displays.
The children have formed a very close supportive group.
They have increase in confidence and self-esteem. They are enthusiastic and excited about trips. All have been to new places they have never been before as a result of the group.
