About Us

About Us

The Oxfordshire Community Foundation was founded in 1995 by a number of prominent individuals from the county, including the then Lord Lieutenant.

Traditionally, the Foundation’s funding has taken the form of donations from philanthropic donors but in recent years it has benefited from government and European funding streams in the form of the Local Network Fund supporting Children and Young People (LNF) and the Improving Employability Fund (ESF), which, however, are soon to come to an end. We are therefore creating strategies to attract more individual donors who are seeking to put something back into the Oxfordshire Community but are unsure as to how to go about it. We are also constantly seeking partnerships with the corporate sector across the county.

These individuals recognised the need for an organisation that could identify the unmet needs of disadvantaged people across the county. Having secured donations and help in kind from a number of local companies, other organisations and individuals, grant making began in 1996.

Since then, the Foundation has come a long way, having granted over £2 million to hundreds of groups in the county. These small organisations, with indispensable knowledge of their local communities, work at grass roots level, providing advice and support for their beneficiaries. In many cases these groups would not exist without the financial support of the Foundation. For more information on grants

With several exciting projects in the pipeline and a burgeoning board of Trustees to help carry these forward we embrace the new challenge that lies ahead. If you share our vision of improving the quality of life for people in Oxfordshire, whether it be disability groups, the homeless, the vulnerable elderly, or indeed unlocking the potential of our young people then please get in touch. Your help would be of great importance to us and will have an immediate impact on people’s lives in the Oxfordshire community.