Inspiring Giving Spring 2019 by Sussex Community Foundation

Inspiring GIVING SPRING 2019 News in brief NEW FUND

Keith Gauntlett, a volunteer at Grow Chichester

We have a new fund which will be giving out grants in our next round. Dulverton Trust Fund will provide small grants to charities and community groups which support young people in both the Wealden and Rother districts, with a preference for the north of that area. Grants of up to £5,000 are available. Our deadline date for grant applications is Friday 3rd May and there is more information on our website: www.sussexgiving.org.uk

“In such a generally affluent area it is, in my view, a scandal that there should be so many wards in Sussex among the most disadvantaged areas in the country. We live in a wealthy part of Britain which is capable of addressing this, provided we have the will to do so, and provided we effectively present the needs of the Sussex community to wealthy Sussex people. I believe we have a huge opportunity to make a significant contribution over the long term to the quality of life of the people of Sussex. A community foundation is not just another charity. We are aiming to establish long-term relationships with Sussex people who want to make a difference over time to the quality of life of people in the local community.”

Sussex people. This fund will generate £1 million in grant funds every year and means we can continue to make a positive difference with each passing year. We think the Duke would have been delighted that his vision has inspired others to give so generously.

These words from our founder, the 10th Duke of Richmond, continue to inspire us and to define our mission. We are here to make an enduring difference to Sussex to address disadvantage and to improve quality of life. As the Duke said, at the heart of the community foundation is the desire to make a lasting difference and we achieve this by building an endowment fund which allows us to provide the sustainable funding that our community desperately needs.

As the Duke hoped, Sussex Community Foundation has made a significant contribution to the quality of life of the people of Sussex, but there is much more to do. We hope you will join us and help make a long term difference to your community.

As we come to the end of another financial year, I am delighted to announce that this endowment fund has now reached £20 million, thanks to the generosity of so many

But our work is by no means over. We received over £4 million worth of grant applications last year and demand grows constantly, as other sources of funding are shrinking. As we look ahead, we aim to redouble our efforts to raise funds to meet both the immediate demands for funding from local charities and the future needs of our communities.

Kevin Richmond, Chief Executive, Sussex Community Foundation

SPOTLIGHT ON RAMPION

Since the Rampion Wind Farm Fund launched 18 months ago, the fund has given over £900,000 in grants across Sussex. The Rampion Fund gives grants of up to £50,000 to support organisations and projects that benefit the broad community, in particular those with links to environment and ecology, climate change and energy, and improved community facilities. Here are two projects that benefitted in the very first round of grant-making by Rampion. The Grow Project received a £5,000 grant from the Rampion Fund to support its work with adults with mental

day. I honestly loved the whole experience – it provided an anchor one day a week and its effects have helped carry me on positively through the week. I have learned more about myself, what is essential for me and how to allow others to help me. I feel more part of a community. The Grow group has been very important in restoring some faith in being acceptable and accepted by people.” Association Cybele organises diep~haven, an annual cross-channel arts festival in East Sussex and Normandy, focused around Newhaven and Dieppe. They received a £4,700 Rampion Fund grant to fund an artist-led education project and exhibition with local school groups in Newhaven, producing solargraphs with long exposure

health issues in the Brighton & Hove area. They arrange nature-based activities that have a significant positive impact on people’s mental health and wellbeing. This funding enabled them to run two 8-week courses called The Season, where groups of 12 people visited the National Trust’s Saddlescombe Farm and other locations on the South Downs to carry out a wide range of activities to suit mood, energy level, physical ability and interest.

pinhole cameras made from recycled drinks cans which were then exhibited at the Southease YHA, Bishopstone railway station and across the Southern Rail network, as part of diep~haven festival 2018.

One participant was Valerie (not her real name) who said: “My wellbeing was transformed by the end of each Grow

More information here www.sussexgiving.org.uk/rampion

The display of the children’s work at Bishopstone station was particularly successful and the station requested that the works on the platform stay in place indefinitely.

Where Rampion made its grants. Bolney Peveral Steyning Bramber

Bognor Regis Littlehampton

Worthing Lancing

Shoreham Portslade Ovingdean by Sea Southwick Brighton & Hove Peacehaven

Seaford Newhaven

GRANTS

In our Spring round, we gave 275 grants totalling £615,000 to charities, community groups, social enterprises and some individuals. We are proud that our work has been able to support so many people, families and communities. However, we had great applications that we would have like to have made grants to - worth almost £300,000 which we were unable to award through lack of funds. We are always looking for people and partners to work with so please do get in touch if you would like to hear more about setting up a fund with us. Our Purple Fund, one of our endowment funds that resulted from a legacy, gave out its first five grants in the Spring round. One of them was Heartspace (left), based on the Manhood Peninsula in Selsey. Working in partnership with Coastal West Sussex Mind, East Wittering Parish Council and Manhood Community Transport, Heartspace offers a varied annual programme of creative artsbased sessions led by professional facilitators. Based at Bracklesham Barn near Chichester, the group offers everything from African drumming and singing to crafts and story-telling for local people. The group was established in 2016 and this is its first grant of £3,000 from Sussex Community Foundation. In some parts of the peninsula, over 20% of pensioners live alone which means problems such as social isolation and loneliness are higher too. This kind of community activity is a lifeline for those people. Another group we gave a grant to was Level Water to offer 1000 lessons to teach 20 children with disabilities to swim in Shoreham. The group works with each child for about a year, building confidence and resilience in children who can often feel excluded from other group or mainstream activities. One of those children who learned to swim in Haywards Heath with Level Water (funded by our Kim Addison and Knighton funds) is Olivia-Rose, who has a rare genetic condition called Loeys-Dietz which affects her joints and heart muscle.She is fairly restricted on what sports she can take part in, no contact or running sports. Her parents had always been told that swimming is a really good sport for her to do. However, part of her condition is that her skin is very translucent and thin so she gets cold very quickly and waiting for her time to swim in her class meant she was getting very cold, and then her joints began to hurt even more. She now swims weekly with Cath at the Dolphin Leisure Centre. She has gone from being unable to swim to gaining her 25 metre & 50 metre badges. Livvy is beyond proud of this. She has never received a badge for any sport and this means a great deal to her.

Livvy seems to spend so much time being told she can’t take part in something, to be able to actually do her own lesson and see the progress she is making has been amazing for her. Mum, Nicola © SUSSEX COMMUNITY FOUNDATION Inspiring Giving SPRING 2019

EVENTS

Newhaven EZ Community Fund The Newhaven EZ Community Fund at Sussex Community Foundation, which launched last year in the town, has made its first grants, totalling £25,000, to six local charities and community groups. The grants went to Newhaven Families Forum, Growing Together Community Garden, Newhaven and District

“Last month, I attended an event for Little Gate Farm to celebrate their fifth birthday.”

Stephen Chamberlain, Head of Philanthropy, reports back from Little Gate Farm in Beckley, near Rye.

“Little Gate Farm is a very special project, which supports adults with learning disabilities and autism into paid employment. Sussex Community Foundation has been privileged to support them since the very beginning, most recently in March with a grant from the Laing Fund towards their Healthy Kitchen project.

This will help train 60 young adults with learning disabilities in new skills to help them cook healthy meals independently. This vulnerable group of people will be empowered to live more independent and healthier lives.

Mencap, Newhaven Gig Rowing Club and Denton Community Challenge /James Daniels Memorial Fund and Newhaven Open Call. Pictured here are representatives of the delighted recipient groups with Newhaven Enterprise Zone Programme Director, Corinne Day (pictured here, 2nd from right), and Sussex Community Foundation Chief Executive, Kevin Richmond (5th from left).

The aspiration is that many can progress into catering jobs with skills learned on this project. Steven, one of the young adults supported by Little Gate Farm, spoke movingly at the event. Not so long ago, someone like Steven might have been excluded from the world of work and even now only 6% of adults with learning disabilities are in paid employment in the UK. But, with the help from his Little Gate Farm Job Coach, Steven is completing a Health and Social Care apprenticeship and has moved straight into a paid role at Ashridge Court Care Centre in Bexhill.” “This is meaningful employment. It provides a framework to his life, an income, stability, a sense of purpose and social contact - and it’s clear that he is valued by his colleagues and very good at his job, too. We look forward very much to other Little Gate Farm success stories over the next five years.”

Sussex Community Foundation raises funds for and gives grants to smaller charities and community groups across East Sussex, West Sussex and Brighton & Hove. We make it easy for Sussex people to give money to local causes close to their hearts and ensure that those donations reach the people that need them. Our endowment fund enables our donors to benefit Sussex people for generations to come. Sussex Community Foundation, 15 Western Road, Lewes, East Sussex BN7 1RL 01273 409440 / info@sussexgiving.org.uk / www.sussexgiving.org.uk