A North East-based grant-maker calls on local charitable organisations, donors and funders to work together via the platform
The Good Exchange, has this week announced the latest funder to be added to its platform: County Durham Community Foundation (Foundation). The Foundation is an independent grant-making charity, providing grants that make a genuine difference to the lives of local people. The Foundation manages charitable trusts donated by local individuals, families, businesses and trusts, and is dedicated to helping communities grow by creating opportunities and tackling issues of disadvantage and exclusion.
The main impetus behind the Foundation’s decision to run a pilot via The Good Exchange is to help it identify, and therefore work with, local charitable groups that may never have heard of the Foundation and also to provide an extra boost to the Foundation’s grants programme. The programme aims to provide grants of up to £5,000 to support charities, voluntary-led organisations and projects that have an incredible impact in their community, enabling them to continue their work and make vital improvements to their services. The Foundation funds a range of projects involving children and young people, the elderly, and people with disabilities, as well as projects in healthcare, arts and culture and the local environment.
“Our overarching aim is to support local charities and charitable groups – with the initial focus on the Good Exchange being to support children and youth groups – as well as driving collaboration between funders and charitable causes in our local area,” Michelle Cooper, CEO of County Durham Community Foundation. “Offering grant funding via The Good Exchange will enable us to reach new collaborators across the spectrum – from donors and fellow funders, to charitable organisations – and offer match-funding, incentivising further charitable giving. We hope to broaden our reach through the platform and would urge charities and organisations who share our objectives when it comes to supporting youth groups at a local level to register with The Good Exchange and join the growing online charitable community.”
“The County Durham Community Foundation is doing vital work in the local area, focusing particularly on supporting charitable groups aimed at helping children and young people,” said Ed Gairdner, COO of The Good Exchange. “We firmly believe that the key to success in charitable giving lies in collaboration, facilitated by technology, and hope to see other funders, charities and supporters in the local area registering with us and working together with the CDCF to make a real difference.
“We’re also thrilled to welcome the Foundation on board as our first funder in the North East. Following the success our platform has experienced in the south of England, we’ve been aiming to expand our reach nationwide for some time, so this is a significant breakthrough for The Good Exchange. We look forward to continuing our work with the Foundation and hope to see new organisations join our platform both locally and regionally in the near future!”
For more information regarding the Foundation and to register a fundraising project, visit their page on The Good Exchange’s platform here: https://app.thegoodexchange.com/funders/10863/county-durham-community-foundation
About The Good Exchange
The Good Exchange is a transformational not-for-profit cloud platform specifically designed to match those organisations and individuals who have money to give to good causes with those who need it most; on a local, regional and national basis. As the only platform to bring together grant-making, donations, charitable projects and fundraising in one place, the automated matching system with its simple single on-line application form will revolutionise charitable giving, making it more accessible, transparent and collaborative. For the first time, those seeking to raise money for local good causes will be able to access all sources of funding including charitable trusts, corporate givers, fundraisers and public through a single process. https://thegoodexchange.com
About County Durham Community Foundation
Established in 1995, County Durham Community Foundation is a local grant-making foundation. It is one of 46 Community Foundations in the UK, a network that actively promotes and facilitates local giving for local people. We promote lasting charitable giving, by bringing together donors with their chosen causes, through well targeted grants that make a genuine difference to the lives of local people, acting as a vehicle for individuals, families and companies who want to put something back into their local community, either in their lifetime, or through leaving a legacy. Since 1995, County Durham Community Foundation has made grants over £40 million to groups and individuals across County Durham & Darlington on behalf of our donors. We currently manage over 200 funds which are all unique and tailor-made to suit the donor.
If you would like to know more about County Durham Community Foundation you can contact us on 0191 378 6340; or visit the website: http://www.cdcf.org.uk/