What is a community foundation?

A community foundation is a place-based grant-making charity. It raises and holds funds from local donors, companies, public bodies and legacies, and gives the money out as grants to charities and community groups in its area. UK Community Foundations, the membership body, said on 26 October 2026 that its members distributed over £183 million through more than 38,000 grants in 2024-25, and that "grants are distributed according to the particular needs of a neighbourhood or region". It does not award grants itself; applicants go to their local foundation.

Why it matters when applying. For a small or unregistered group, the community foundation is usually the first realistic funder. Grants are small and local: 360Giving data on OpenGrant's funder pages on 26 October 2026 gave a median recent grant of £2,500 at Forever Manchester and Cheshire Community Foundation, and £9,908 at The London Community Foundation. Many funds accept constituted groups without charity registration. The catch is that each foundation runs many separate funds, each with its own criteria, geography and dates, so you apply to a fund rather than to the foundation. Local community grants in the UK explains where they fit.

How they differ from a trust. A grant-making trust usually spends its own endowment on its own priorities. A community foundation mostly spends other people's money to their instructions, which is why its programmes come and go. Forever Manchester's funding page on 26 October 2026 listed fifteen named funds as not open and asked groups to call before applying.

Example. A fictional parents' group in Warrington wants £3,000 for a holiday club. It checks Cheshire Community Foundation's live funds, finds one open to constituted groups in its area, and applies to that fund by its closing date rather than writing to the foundation in general.