Community Foundation for Staffordshire and Shropshire

Community Foundation for Staffordshire and Shropshire is an independent grantmaker dedicated to strengthening local communities through targeted philanthropy that addresses disadvantage, builds cohesion, and empowers grassroots change. Guided by values of collaboration, inclusivity, local empowerment, and sustainable impact, it believes lasting transformation arises from supporting small organizations with deep community roots, leveraging local knowledge to tackle root causes of hardship via evidence-based, community-led interventions that prioritize equity, innovation, and long-term resilience over short-term fixes.

It funds mental health programmes for young people and care leavers including counselling, peer support groups, and therapeutic activities addressing anxiety, isolation, and emotional wellbeing; youth enterprise and educational opportunities via skills training, mentoring, work experience, after-school clubs, and employability support for young people aged 16-25 facing barriers like unemployment or educational exclusion; food security initiatives such as food banks, community kitchens, and wellbeing packs combating hunger and family hardship; environmental sustainability projects promoting green spaces, climate resilience, and rural enterprise development; sports and physical activity including scholarships and inclusive outdoor activities for disabled young people and families; pathways out of poverty through emergency hardship grants, family resilience programmes, and capacity-building for grassroots groups; rural community strengthening tackling isolation for elderly residents and disadvantaged communities via befriending, creative arts, and neighbourhood improvement; disability support like accessible pathways, music technology for girls with special needs, and museum experiences enhancing learning for children with disabilities; and interventions for families caring for disabled children, addressing social isolation, complex health needs, and carer exhaustion through preventative, person-centred, trauma-informed approaches.

It excludes core running costs, salaries, statutory services, national charities, limited companies, religious promotion, and politically partisan activities, prioritizing small grassroots voluntary groups and social enterprises delivering measurable local impact. Distinctive for place-based giving in rural and urban localities facing exclusion, it favours innovations breaking barriers for marginalised young people, families in crisis, elderly experiencing isolation, disabled people, and care leavers, emphasizing community-led, evidence-based practice with proactive partnership to foster trust and sustained cohesion.