A Celebration of Local Giving for Local Good

28th March 2018

The generosity of local business leaders and philanthropists has brought in new funding for the benefit of South Yorkshire communities.

Local charity South Yorkshire's Community Foundation (SYCF) partnered with The Liz and Terry Bramall Foundation to set up a match funding opportunity of £500,000 with a £1 for £1 match on donations to SYCF, which will directly benefit local people. The local charity is now celebrating achieving the full match and bringing in £1 million of new money to the region. The funding will be invested back into South Yorkshire, through long term grant giving to community groups and charities working to support our region. The incredible success of the scheme could not have been achieved without the generosity of The Liz and Terry Bramall Foundation. Their match funding offer has encouraged new philanthropists to come forward and has enabled individuals and businesses alike to maximise both the financial and social impact of their donations. Ken and Janet Cooke were some of the first to take part in the match challenge opportunity. They said -Our company, CTW (Hardfacing) Ltd has operated in the heart of Sheffield's steel and engineering industries since 1972. Sheffield is also close to our hearts and after attending a 30th Anniversary Dinner for the Foundation, we felt the time was right to give back to our city. Establishing our Fund at the Foundation enables our giving to be targeted to the areas that matter the most to us, projects inspiring and supporting children and young people to improve their education, employment opportunities and health and wellbeing. The match funding from the Liz and Terry Bramall Foundation was very inspiring, as it maximises the impact of our donation to the causes, which we want to support. The funding brought in by the match challenge has already begun to support community organisations. Brampton Junior Youth Club in Rotherham, Spectrum Theatre in Sheffield and Doncaster Foster Carers Association are among those, who have already received grant awards to help meet community needs. Liz and Terry Bramall said: --When Giles Bloomer (Former SYCF Chair) approached us with the idea of the Philanthropy Catalyst Match Challenge we were excited by its prospects and we have not been disappointed. -During the past 2 years we have been delighted to work with the team at SYCF and have been impressed by their professionalism, rigour and ability to reach all sections of the community. -We are thrilled that the challenge has been taken up by fellow philanthropists. James Newman, Chairman of SYCF said: -We are thrilled with the success of the Philanthropy Catalyst Match Challenge. With £1m raised to be invested back into South Yorkshire for the benefit of local people, we consider it a job well done. -We could not have achieved this without the generosity and enthusiasm of not only The Liz and Terry Bramall Foundation but all of those generous local people, who have taken up the match challenge. It has been wonderful to see how much passion there is for bettering the lives of local people and how willing people are to help. -We will not stop here though. We have worked incredibly hard to make this match challenge a success and we want to build on this momentum. As a charity, our purpose is to enable effective giving for individuals and companies to local communities and to ensure it goes to where it is most needed and where it will have the most impact. Match funding is just one way we work with donors to achieve our goals. -Thank you to all those generous donors, who have taken part and helped us to do more to help our region. South Yorkshire's Community Foundation is a well established charity and an important resource for community groups and charities in need of grant support to keep up their good work. Since SYCF was founded over 31 years ago, the charity has distributed over £27 million in grant awards and is a trusted partner for all types of donors, who work through them to help local people. Find out more: www.sycf.org.uk/matchfunding/