York Community Fund

York Community Fund has been set up as a partnership between Two Ridings Community Foundation, City of York Council, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, York CVS and York Together. The fund focuses on strengthening York’s voluntary and community groups with grants that support purposeful community action and create a sense of belonging.

The guidelines for this fund were created by people from the York community through a participatory decision-making process. This is a collaborative method where stakeholders are involved in discussing challenges facing communities, shaping the fund guidance to help address identified challenges, and coming to a collective decision on where funding is allocated. It’s a more democratic approach using inclusive, open dialogue, and shared responsibility. A participatory approach involves people with lived experience of the issues that the Fund tackles, as well as people with practiced and professional experience. The goal is that this shifts power away from the funder, creates a more equitable process and results in more informed local decision-making due to the range of perspectives in the room. Decisions on which applications will be funded will also be made by this community panel.

Launched in July 2024, the York Community Fund began with a generous donation from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), followed by a significant three-year contribution from York Central Ltd. Since the first round of grants was distributed, the fund has continued to grow, welcoming two new donors, The Shears Foundation and the York Quaker Fund. The fund also benefits from donations generously contributed by private individuals.

Fund priorities

Organisations and groups should be addressing local need in at least one of the following priorities:

Affordability and cost of living 

e.g. helping people manage financial pressures, access support, and build resilience in the face of rising living costs

Climate action

e.g. helping communities respond to environmental challenges, reduce their environmental impact, and build a more sustainable future

Equalities and Human Rights 

e.g. providing activities and opportunities that help people feel safe, valued, and connected within their communities

Health and wellbeing

e.g. supporting people’s physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing and help communities thrive

We are particularly interested in:

• Resourcing leadership time for reflection, learning, planning and ways of working exploration.
• Applications where people with lived experience of the issues being addressed are involved with the design of the project and/or the running of the organisation / delivering the project.
• Resourcing ‘unpopular causes’ (issues or movements that lack widespread support, often facing stigma, negative media attention, or difficulty attracting funding)
• Organisations who are dealing with the ‘root causes’ (the fundamental reasons why problems or undesirable events occur) of these issues.