The Grassroots Grants and Endowment Match Challenge were successfully completed in 2011, after three years of generous giving by donors, reaching small community groups that had rarely received any grant support before. We are confident that the impact of Grassroots will be seen for many years to come.
Grassroots Grants was a £130 million government funded programme that aimed to help build stronger, more active communities. Running from 2008 to 2011, 46 community foundations throughout England managed the programme locally, with the support of CFN and CDF.
It consisted of an £80 million small grants programme and a £50 million endowment match challenge, funded by the Government.
What did the Grant programme achieve?
- 19,000 grassroots groups supported
- Six out of ten groups had an annual turnover of less than £5,000
- Four out of ten groups had never received a grant before
- Nearly one million people benefited from strengthened local groups, ranging from sports clubs to counselling, youth clubs to lunch clubs, special needs support groups to transport schemes and allotment associations to dance groups.
- More than nine out of ten groups vowed to carry on beyond their grant funding
- Groups tackled local issues, in particular social isolation, services for older people, issues for young people and health-related concerns.
- All this activity had a positive impact on community spirit locally.
What did the Match Challenge achieve?
- Created an endowment worth over £90 million across England
- Donors gave in total just shy of £50 million and the government provided matched funding of £41.9 million
- One in five donors to the programme gave to local causes for the first time
- … and many donors indicated they would continue to support local community groups
- Encouraged corporate donors to offer their skills and expertise as well as donations
- Enabled funding organisations to offer grants of around £2.7 million in 2011-2102 alone – and grants will continue to be on offer for generations to come.
- Four out of five donors said the reason they gave was because they wanted to support local community groups
- And four out five said the matching element was a further incentive!
- Over a third said the idea of giving to endowment – making funding available for future generations - was a key factor
- Over a third of donors gave more than £10,000 each over the life of the programme.