Our Strategic Plan
The Bedfordshire and Luton Community Foundation has impacted thousands of lives over its 20 year history, and we couldn’t have done it without the many individuals and funders who support our causes, initiatives, and campaigns.
Our work is vital for transforming communities across Bedfordshire and Luton, whether it is addressing food, fuel and digital poverty, mental health and inequality or combating isolation.
How We'll Deliver the Plan
Our Strategic Priority Outcomes are:
- To Widen Our Reach
- To Listen, Learn, Adapt and Change
- To Offer Excellence
- To Sustain, Grow and Thrive
You can read more on our plan, and how we’ll deliver our outcomes on the button below.
Golden Threads
The needs of the communities we serve are complex. So we must adapt and increase flexibility to ensure we support the most disadvantaged in our communities.
To do so we will further commit to overarching ‘golden threads’ that will run through all our grantmaking, operational and partnership work to ensure BLCF plays its part in the new post-Covid-19 world. BLCF is therefore committed to:
- Addressing inequality across all protected characteristics
- Listening and learning from our community partners
- Contributing to addressing the Climate Crisis
Our Values
Our eight values sit at the heart of our work and our people, and we strive to deliver our vision and mission through these.
Ready To Challenge
Enabling us to excel, our partners to have impact, our communities to work together and for all to help shift the balance of power through the value of our data, insight and knowledge.
Deliver Lasting Change
We use influence to make change happen that is long lasting and impactful for community partners and individuals.
Embrace Risk Taking
We have an appetite to take calculated risks to ensure our own, and the charity sectors, sustainability and to help us grow, and explore new opportunities.
Always Accountable
We are trusted by our partners, our funders and the people of Bedfordshire. We understand the needs of the communities and built that knowledge through relationships, built on fairness, equality, and transparency.
Locally Focused
We vale our local ‘place based’ knowledge and expertise gained through our connections and networks ensuring our wider geographic reach.
Ever Curious
To grow our understanding of local need through out collective curiosity and strive to always understand and be informed of the ever-changing needs we aim to address.
Highly Skilled
We are skilled in the work we do through our quality standards, reputation, experience and professional development.
Reflect and Represent
The communities we serve by including their lived experience in the make-up of our staff teams, volunteers, panel members and Trustees.
Our Funds & Impact
In the last year we distributed over £4.7m to almost 300 small charities who in turn have had an impact on 260,00 individuals. A year ago, we rapidly set up a new fund which distributed essential emergency COVID funding, alongside advice and guidance to struggling community groups.
Now, as we move out of the pandemic, we must respond to the longer lasting need. We are actively seeking supportive relationships with local businesses with a commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Working with us to support the survival of the crucial efforts of our charity sector will provide critical provision for those at most risk and grow new optimism in our communities.
UKCF Members
We are members of the UK Community Foundations Network (UKCF), an organisation for the 46 accredited community foundations across the country who share a commitment to making a difference to people’s lives and the places they serve.
UKCF champion local philanthropy at a national level by promoting the work of their members with government and other national stakeholders.
As a collective body we have awarded over £1 billion in grants to charities, community groups and individuals.
