Dear Editor
Earlier this month we sent you a press release to announce the news that since July last year the Milton Keynes Community Foundation has awarded £98, 652 (that’s almost £100,000!) from our Grassroots Grants programme in support of small community projects.
In response to having dispatched this great news for the city, we were disappointed to find the story only appeared as a small entry on the Community Chest page. In the current climate surely the people of Milton Keynes would welcome this encouraging, and positive news, and many small groups and charities who are feeling the strain of the recession would benefit from knowing funding may be available to them.
Grassroots Grants is only one of the many funding streams from which we made grant awards in the year 2008/09. In total, we awarded £573,514 to 185 projects. This is bringing significant support to our city, and we feel it is something to shout about and to celebrate with the people of Milton Keynes.
This funding is helping to make our city a better place to live in. It is helping projects to get established, to grow and develop. Our grant making is aimed at ensuring the excluded are included, and issues of disadvantage are addressed. We aim to nurture local talent and enable musical, artistic and creative community events to take place. We encourage sporting activities and projects that promote healthy lifestyles and community cohesion. All of this work is working toward building the Brightest Future for Milton Keynes.
The Milton Keynes Community Foundation is part of the broader national network of Community Foundations which operate extensively throughout the UK. It is estimated that most people in the UK will live or work within 20 miles of a charitable project that a community foundation has supported.
In a recent rating by the Directory of Social Change on government funders giving to the voluntary sector in the UK, Community Foundations rated highest on both a National & Regional level. Across the UK, Community Foundation giving ranks higher than both the Heritage Lottery Fund and English Heritage.
In writing this letter to you, we hope that more people will understand our work in the city and will want to get in touch with us both to enquire about grants available and to offer their support. Each year, we receive far more grant applications than we are able to award; and in an effort to meet this demand, we continue to recruit new donors who make the extent of our support to the community possible.
We hope you will share our news...
May 19th 2009