top of page

The Jersey Community Foundation was established in May 2020 with the initial remit of distributing £2 million from the Dormant Bank Account Funds, to get much-needed funding to local charities, to support the community in coping with the current Covid-19 pandemic and its aftermath. The first grants were awarded in September 2020. Full article available here:

https://lnkd.in/d_hWacE

At the time of writing, the organisation has distributed just over £830,000 since its launch, helping 21 charities in total. Of those charities, several received around £50,000 in funding – the maximum amount that can be granted from the Dormant Bank Accounts Fund to an organisation in any one year.

One of those organisations was the British Red Cross, which was granted £50,000 for its community connector project. The scheme is designed to support those who are lonely or isolated by helping them develop their own plan and identify specific goals they want to achieve over a 12-week period.

Stephen McVay, the independent living service manager for the British Red Cross, said: ‘We are delighted to receive funding from the Jersey Community Foundation to help deliver our first frontline service in Jersey. While seeking to bring a new service to the Island, we found that an emerging theme was people’s feelings of loneliness and isolation, exacerbated by – but not solely due to – the pandemic.’

He added: ‘The British Red Cross community connector programme was set up to tackle this very issue.’

The chief executive for the Jersey Community Foundation Anna Terry said that as the Island emerged from the pandemic the foundation intended to provide a grant-making platform to individual donors, charitable trusts and businesses who want to support local community and voluntary groups.

‘For some people, setting up their own charitable trust is the most obvious route to take when establishing a substantial fund for future philanthropy,’ she said. ‘However, it’s not always as easy or as flexible as you may think – the Jersey Community Foundation has the ability to establish a personal fund where the administrative burden and legal compliance is managed by us. However, importantly, the donor can remain as closely involved in the application of their funds as they wish.’

Additionally, the foundation has been allocated a further £694,134 of lottery funds to distribute to projects within sports, heritage, culture, arts and science – the application window for which will open in May.

Over £800,000 granted from Dormant Bank Accounts

bottom of page