Castle Cavendish Foundation

Castle Cavendish Foundation is a Nottingham-based registered charity and social impact company, established over 15 years ago, dedicated to enhancing quality of life in the city's most diverse and disadvantaged neighborhoods, particularly Radford and Hyson Green. Guided by a board of up to 15 trustees emphasizing transparency, diversity, and ethical leadership, it embodies a 'triple bottom line' ethos—People, Planet, and Profit—through a unique social investment model. Its trading arm, Castle Cavendish Limited, manages a £2.8m property portfolio of business centres, retail, and offices, reinvesting surpluses alongside external grants into charitable programs for sustainable community regeneration.

The foundation prioritizes investments in children and young people via holiday activities and food provision, healthy lifestyles through sports facilities like Haydn Road Pavilion, heritage projects, and voluntary sector capacity building. Funding supports trusted local partners delivering measurable outcomes in health, education, sport, heritage, infrastructure, and community renewal, with 2024 charitable expenditure exceeding £1.17m.

Eligible applicants are small, grassroots voluntary and community sector groups embedded in specific Nottingham wards: Basford, Berridge, Sherwood, Hyson Green & Arboretum, Radford and Castle, Meadows, Lenton & Wollaton East, and Wollaton West. It does not accept unsolicited applications for its main closed programme, favoring pre-selected partners; limited open rounds for school holiday activities target non-partner VCS groups—monitor the website for announcements. Trustees meet approximately every 6 weeks to review submissions via downloadable forms detailing activities, budgets, and outcomes.

Typical grants range £1,000–£5,000 for holiday activities, scaling to £10,000+ for strategic partners or £50,000+ for capital. It avoids core/unrestricted funding, distinguishing itself through integrated property management linking business success to local impact in deprived areas.