Hampshire and the Isle of Wight Community Foundation

Hampshire and the Isle of Wight Community Foundation drives positive social change by funding grassroots organizations and community groups tackling poverty, disadvantage, and inequality among the most vulnerable and underrepresented. Core values of equity, inclusion, and community empowerment guide their philosophy, prioritizing community-led solutions that build resilience through local knowledge and lived experience. They believe small-scale, place-based interventions leveraging donor alignment with hyper-local needs create lasting impact, fostering authentic partnerships, capacity building, and evidence-led philanthropy to strengthen disadvantaged communities.

They support mental health services including counselling, peer support groups, and therapeutic activities for young people experiencing anxiety, depression, or isolation; befriending schemes and social inclusion programs combating loneliness among older adults; family support including respite care, carer groups, and holistic wellbeing activities for families living with disabled children, learning disabilities, physical disabilities, or complex health needs; food poverty relief through community food banks and emergency provisions addressing financial hardship and hunger; homelessness prevention via outreach and housing support; domestic abuse recovery programs offering safe spaces, advocacy, and trauma-informed counselling; youth development boosting educational attainment, after-school clubs, mentoring, and employability training for care leavers and at-risk young people; and community cohesion initiatives enhancing social connections, preventative wellbeing, and early intervention for isolated individuals, ethnic minorities, and rural families.

They exclude capital projects like building works, prioritizing project costs, core funding, staffing, volunteer expenses, and small equipment for grassroots charities. Distinctive for hyper-local focus on entrenched disadvantage in urban cities and rural areas, they favor small community-based organizations with deep regional insight, community leadership, and responsiveness to evolving needs like food insecurity, youth mental health crises, and family breakdowns, emphasizing inclusive, person-centred approaches over top-down interventions.