The Kensington & Chelsea Foundation is an independent charity with a ten-year record of success in bringing people across the Borough together to address local hardship and exclusion. They spotlight issues which disadvantage the community and raise funds and resources to tackle them.
Since 2008 they have raised more than £12 million. Of this, £5 million has been invested into more than 150 local charities, while more than £7 million was raised for their Grenfell Tower Fund to help the survivors from the fire, the bereaved and the wider affected community.
Following the terrible fire at Grenfell Tower, they remain committed to tackling the issues that impact on local people. To inform their approach, they regularly review local data and recently carried out a Listening Project with over 150 people to ensure that their ambition to making a lasting difference continues to be driven by learning and is informed by the local communities every step of the way.
They know that things need to change in this Borough and that they can, and firmly believe that everyone working together to find long-term solutions is the way ahead. And it is here where their strength and unique role lies. Building on their existing relationships and through developing new ones, they can bring people together and ensure that money, skills and other resources are directed to where they will have maximum impact.
What they do
Being a central hub for the wider Kensington and Chelsea community, the K&C Foundation build relationships between local people, businesses, schools, charities and community groups, helping them to work together to make a difference. Through close consultation with the local community, they plan and prioritise their giving to address local issues, while advocating for a collaborative, joined up approach. They achieve this by:
- Raising funds and other resources to invest in projects to help combat local issues with priority areas including supporting children and young people, skills and employment, and isolation and loneliness. They ensure that resources are being directed to where they will be most effective and are adequately spread to address needs across the Borough;
- Convening people who live or work in the Borough and lead conversations relating to needs and how they can be addressed;
- Partnering with the best and most effective local organisations and invest in them by making grants that will offer real benefits to their community;
- Promoting ongoing activities, opportunities and successes of local charities in ways that attract new donors and partners;
- Engaging with leaders and influencers across their community while developing dynamic and effective ways to support local people;
- Connecting their supporters to a family of people working collectively across the Borough to make a local difference.
Together we are stronger.
Key areas of need
The K&C Foundation encourage collaborative projects involving a number of local charities through their specific areas of focus, which strengthen the wider community’s ability to collectively respond to specific needs. Current areas of focus include:
- Children and young people: They work with organisations that provide children and young people with hope, raise aspirations and nurture skills to ensure brighter futures. Across the borough 31.6% of children live in poverty, but in some wards this figure is higher: 40.29% in St Charles; 43.48% in Golborne; 38.81 % in Notting Barns and 39.80 % in Cremorne.
- Isolation and loneliness: Working across the community and through investing in a group of passionate charity partners, they reach out to those who are socially isolated or suffer from crippling loneliness. It is an issue that affects people of all ages and from all walks of life, but there is a greater risk of loneliness in Kensington and Chelsea wards that have been identified as having poorer wellbeing than the London average.
- Skills and employment: They are partnering with community groups and businesses to help local unemployed people into work, as well as supporting those in precarious employment. They have identified industries that are facing a serious skills shortage and so they will work with businesses and training providers in fields including tech, hospitality, construction and property. 22% of people in Kensington & Chelsea are in jobs paying below the London Living Wage; they are committed to ensuring local residents have access to better paid, more secure employment opportunities.
- Winter Warmth sees the K&C Foundation raise funds for older people living in fuel poverty in Kensington & Chelsea. Sadly, two in five older people living locally will cut back on food to pay for heating. Working with three local partners, they help to pay fuel bills and provide help and advice to those in their community who need help to survive the Winter. Anyone can give to Winter Warmth, but primarily those who receive the Government’s Winter Fuel payment are asked to donate it if they can to help keep a neighbour warm.
For more information contact us at [email protected] or call them on 0207 229 5499.