About Somerset Community Foundation

We’re a grant-making charity that helps build strong communities where everyone can thrive. We do this by funding local charities and inspiring and facilitating local giving and philanthropy. We’re lucky to have a passionate and dedicated team who all share a love of our wonderful county. Together, we work tirelessly to raise vital funds and get them to a diverse range of groups so they can change lives in Somerset every day.

Inspiring local giving and Philanthropy

We provide simple, rewarding and impactful ways for donors to give locally. Our giving is guided by our unrivalled local knowledge, research and community insight. This means we can direct your generous gifts to the causes and places that need it most.

Funding life-changing charities

For small, local charities, community groups and social enterprises, we provide vital funding and support to help their organisations flourish. Through our grant-making, we provide around £4 million to local groups every year and have awarded over £31 million since we launched in 2002.

Gathering Research and Insight

Alongside our funding programmes, we gather community insight and do research. This helps inform our work, shine a spotlight on local needs and give a voice to local organisations working on the ground. We foster learning and collaboration through initiatives like The Somerset Funders Forum and making connections between local groups.

By inspiring local giving and funding social action, we support local communities to drive change and realise their dreams.

Our Vision

Our vision for Somerset is a place with strong communities where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.

Our Mission

We help passionate people in Somerset change the world on their doorstep by funding local causes and inspiring local giving and philanthropy.

Our Values

We’re here for everyone

We embed diverse perspectives throughout everything we do and welcome and value the uniqueness in everyone.

We drive equity

We work to better understand the needs, challenges, dreams and aspirations of historically underfunded communities* and take positive action to redress the balance.

We act with integrity

We’re transparent about how and why we do things and always do the best we can.

We lead with kindness

We’re supportive, compassionate and respectful to each other and everyone we serve.

We strive to be better

We seek and reflect on feedback and insight, foster collaboration and share our learnings to get better results.

*For us, historically underfunded communities are communities who are marginalised or otherwise disadvantaged due to background, geography or other socio-economic factors that we have historically underfunded. This includes, but isn’t limited to, organisations led by and for minority ethnic communities, people with disabilities and people who identify as LGBTQ+, as well as people living in the most deprived neighbourhoods and isolated rural communities.

Our 2021 – 2025 strategy: Thriving Somerset Communities

In spring 2021, we launched our new strategy, Thriving Somerset Communities, in which we set out 4 key strategic priorities for the next 4 years that will help us better respond to the needs of our charities, donors and communities now and in the future.

Download View online

Our Theory of Change

Our Theory of Change explains how and why we need to transform lives in Somerset.

As part of our strategy development work, we developed this Theory of Change in the spring of 2021 to help us reflect on, learn from and improve our work in Somerset. It sets out the context we’re working in, the changes we hope to see in Somerset, how we can drive these changes, the environmental factors that may affect this and the specific contribution we can make.

Download