FOLD This year’s annual review focuses on inclusive, collaborative, local philanthropy. Demonstrating how local philanthropy can, through collaboration facilitated by the Foundation, make a real difference for all of our communities. We invested a good deal of time at the start of the year developing our next five-year strategy in partnership with stakeholders from across the county, challenging what we do, what needs there are in the county and how best to address them. Those needs are ever-increasing. With significant inflation in food and fuel costs and the Bank of England raising interest rates to try to control those inflationary pressures, more and more people who were just getting by now find themselves in financial difficulty. And those charities and volunteer groups who we fund to help support those in vulnerable situations are themselves facing increased costs while dealing with a surge in demand for their services. In response, we have published an expanded and ambitious five-year strategy to increase our grant making and consolidate and expand our targeted programmes of work. That expansion in our output requires a concerted effort to increase our endowment and the funds available for making those grants. The more money we have at our disposal, the more grants we can make, and the more vulnerable people we can support. In this review, we’ve also tried to illustrate a variety of ways people can get involved and help us raise the funds that enable us to give those grants. In this current economic climate, there is always more we can do. If you can, please help us do it. David Beeby, Chairman About Cumbria Community Foundation As the Foundation approaches its 25th Anniversary, we reflect on a year in which the Foundation passed the significant milestone of having distributed over £60 million to local causes since it was founded in 1999. We know our county. Living in Cumbria has some serious upsides, but life can be really tough. The beautiful landscape hides intense poverty and lack of opportunity. We are grant-making experts and champions of local philanthropy. We know where the needs are. We inspire people, businesses, and organisations to invest in local charities and community groups who support our most marginalised and vulnerable Cumbrians. 61 Applications received multi-year funding £5,962,819 Awarded in total £310,357 was our largest grant, and the smallest £81 121 Funds awarded grants 18 New funds established 811 Successful applications This year has been an exceptionally busy year. Our experienced and skilful staff and volunteers work extremely hard so that every penny has as much impact as possible. This review shows the stories behind just a handful of the 800+ grants we made in the past year to give a taste of the impact we can make. Message from the Chairman Front Cover: Walaa Mohammed Saeed Sonbol, who made a new life in Kendal after she moved away from war-torn Syria 12 years ago, cooked for 30 people and introduced them to traditional Syrian cuisine as part of the Kendal Community Kitchen programme supported by the Community Hardship Fund. Growing Local Philanthropy 2 3
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