The purpose of our Endowment Fund is to support children, health and local community projects primarily within the geographic area of Hertfordshire but also Bedfordshire. During 2023, we received a wide range of project applications for funding. We’re committed to supporting a diverse variety of applications and each submission is assessed against specific criteria. We analyse the positive and direct impact the project will have for local people and the community. All our grants have been delivered in collaboration with Hertfordshire Community Foundation (HCF), an independent countywide charity that provides grant support to local grassroots organisations and to children and families in crisis by encouraging local philanthropy. HCF helps identify and research suitable projects for us to fund in line with our areas of priority.
LeeAnna's Wish
LeeAnna’s Wish was inspired by Cleo LeeAnna, who lost her fight with cancer in 2016. The charity was set up by LeeAnna’s sister who wanted to help achieve LeeAnna’s ultimate dream of helping people in her local community.
LeeAnna’s Wish provides support for protected groups living in and around St Albans. From grassroots level to influencing social policy, they are dedicated to combating inequality. Their principal aim is to enable those most at risk of social exclusion to develop essential life skills and access a range of services in the wider community. Their projects enable young people to develop the tools that they need to feel more confident to have their say in their own future. The charity creates safe spaces and environments where individuals can learn, play, create and develop their life skills to access future opportunities in education and work and have successful lives. Their inter-generational programmes aim to engage, empower, and promote social interaction and friendships.
Our grant of £7,500 is used towards the running and staff costs of the thriving Saturday Club that the charity runs. The Saturday Club supports children/young people aged 10-16 from in and around Sopwell (an area with higher-than-average levels of deprivation). These young people are more likely to face significant challenges which may result in bullying, social exclusion and poor health. Saturday Club is provided weekly in term-time at a school in Sopwell. Sessions are free of charge and last for 2 hours. The Club provides several activities to ensure that there is something to engage everyone. This includes games, sport, art, and music.
Saturday Club is a safe space and a welcoming, inclusive environment where participants can try new things and it’s safe to fail. Staff bring wisdom, fun, and unique skills whilst using activities as tools of engagement. Whilst the young people are engaged, staff talk informally about issues which may be impacting their wellbeing – racism, discrimination at school, emotional wellbeing, triggers etc. Around 30 young people attend weekly.
The charity has other projects too, including a weekly Community Cafe, monthly Friday Night Socials, Friday Cinema Café, Empower Women’s Football sessions and numerous other community events. LeeAnna’s Wish was a finalist in the 2022 and 2024 Mayor’s Pride Awards. They also received the Prime Minister’s Points of Light Award in 2023, and featured in a book as a result of the impact of their women’s football programme. In addition, they received a commendation for the 2023 BBC Make a Difference Awards in the Together category.
Harpenden Connect
Harpenden Connect provides, operates and maintains transport facilities called Harpenden Hopper for people in the AL5 area (Harpenden, Hertfordshire). Including those who have a special need of such facilities because they are elderly, on low income, disabled, parents or guardians of young children or those living where there are inadequate public transport facilities.
Harpenden Hopper runs 5 days a week, Monday to Friday. The service, founded in 2017, is a fully functional and extremely reliable offering to the people of Harpenden. Harpenden Town Council supports the service with a leasing agreement for two modern minibuses with Harpenden Connect Limited.
The Harpenden Hopper service, covers the length and breadth of the town, encompassing the main outlying residential areas as well as an inner town loop. The route has been designed to bring passengers into the town centre as quickly as possible, and allows ample time for shopping, visits to the library or doctors, and then to return home.
Harpenden Hopper also works with other local charities, for example, the Harpenden Trust, Youth With A Mission (YWAM) and other community groups. They provide local transport services to these organisations for ad-hoc social and cultural events.
Some of the positive changes this project makes include:
• Continuing to provide support to vulnerable communities leading towards greater equality within the District
• Enabling local people to become involved in community life
• Encouraging people from different groups to come together
• Reducing the volume of cars within the town, having a positive environmental impact
Our grant of £6,000 allows the charity to maintain its reserves. Harpenden Hopper face rising insurance and maintenance costs, whilst minibus leasing costs may rise due to future aspirations for replacing one of the minibuses with an electric vehicle. Funds would also then be required to install the necessary charging equipment. We are thrilled to be supporting a charity on our doorstep and look forward to continuing to see the Hopper bus around the town.
Open Door
Open Door is a community-run space that is set up to serve the community of Berkhamsted and its surrounding villages. The reach of Open Door is extensive, bringing in customers from the surrounding towns of Tring, Chesham and Hemel Hempstead.
Open Door is open to all within the community and is particularly focused on dealing with isolation and social inequality. They provide services in their premises and in their community garden when the weather permits. Open Door has developed the range of services that it offers in direct response to the requests and feedback that come from the community.
On Berkhamsted high street, Open Door has a beautiful “secret garden” at the back of the property. It provides the perfect place for the community to meet and to engage in a range of activities that are hosted by Open Door. There is no other place in Berkhamsted or the surrounding area quite like it.
Our grant of £7,200 contributed towards phase one of Open Door’s seasonal work for their exciting ‘Community Garden Project’. This work ensured the garden is not only beautiful and nurturing but also safe and as accessible as possible. The key purpose of the Community Garden is to provide space to bring the community together across a range of different activities, sharing the joys of a garden and of gardening.
For many who may feel isolated or who suffer from social inequality, the garden provides the stimulation and relaxation that can really make a difference. The project was delivered in a safe and sustainable manner, working under the strapline of “Growing together”.
Open Door also hosts a range of different groups, including the Memory Cafe (for people suffering from Dementia, Alzheimer’s and other memory-related issues). They host a series of other isolation support groups, many of whom engage in activities. For example, Open Door has, for the last year, hosted a Berkhamsted Ukrainian Community Group, plus their associated English lessons. They also have a series of food projects which not only tackle food wastage but also deal with food poverty.
Additionally, Open Door host a massively successful Repair Cafe once per month, where they not only repair and extend the life of items but contribute significantly to reduce CO2 emissions and the prevention of items going to landfill.