A NEW £700,000 charitable fund to help communities in the county has been launched.

Set up by the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Community Foundation, the Hampshire Community Fund will allow the organisation to expand its reach in the community, managing trusts that support children leaving care, music scholarships, talented athletes, school awards for outstanding work across all areas of the curriculum, together with a fund supporting an older people’s care home.

The fund is worth £700k and has been created through an amalgamation of 27 trusts and charities transferred from Hampshire County Council, enabling grants worth up to £35,000 to be made each year to residents across Hampshire.

Cllr Andrew Joy, county council member for alton and executive member for communities, partnerships and external affairs has recently joined the board of HIWCF as a trustee.

He said: "Community Foundations have an extremely good reputation for the effective management of charitable funds in order to maximise their impact at local level; I am pleased that HIWCF can now breathe new life into these trusts through the Hampshire Community Fund in order to help those in need across Hampshire."

Grant Cornwell MBE, HIWCF chief executive, added: “HIWCF have worked with the Charity Commission to remove restrictions, update the charitable objectives and enable these trusts to give more money to good causes, and we very much look forward to working closely with the County Council. These re-invigorated funds enable us to focus on key Foundation issues including ‘poverty and disadvantage’, ‘education and training’, ‘mental or physical ill health’ and ‘healthy living and sport’ enabling us to tackle deprivation and disadvantage across our region.

Grants will be made in line with the original objectives of the trusts. A number are open for applications now, with a deadline of July 13.

Applicants should apply through the HIWCF website: hiwcf.com/grants

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