A Christmas Message from Community Foundation Chief Executive – Andrew McCracken

14 Dec 2018

Looking back on 2018 I am pleased to say it has been another exciting and successful year for the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland. Our aim is to connect people who care to causes that matter; having looked at our grants data for the year, we have given £1,772,835 in 452 grants to our local community.

We supported communities, fundholders and donors in ways that have had a lasting impact and which have helped to tackle poverty and inequality, and promote a peaceful, prosperous and inclusive society.

As the year comes to a close we are delighted to launch our 2017/18 annual report which shows significant progress across three mission critical areas as it reached the halfway point of its current three year strategy. The report shares stories of some of the wonderful organisations, and people we worked with during the year, and we hope you take the time to read some of the highlights!

We have been lucky enough to work with wonderful staff on two Big Lottery Funded projects that are coming to an end this December, Building Change Trust and Space & Place. Our Space & Place project has supported communities to develop new shared facilities on the site of underused or contested spaces and has already delivered 25 amazing spaces. The Foundation will facilitate the opening of the remaining five projects in the New Year.

Building Change Trust is an independent charity, but I am proud of the work of the Foundation in supporting its Board and managing its work with its £10 million National Lottery grant over the last 10 years, and in having led the development of the consortium behind it.

However the end really is just the beginning. As a Foundation, supporting communities to thrive is written in our DNA, and we will take up the baton of innovative funding from BCT, and will continue to find new ways to support communities, harnessing our expertise to enable both large and small scale donors and funders to have an impact on communities who need it most.

I am excited for what the future holds at a time when it really is all up for grabs given the current political climate, and with Brexit looming on the horizon. Whatever the New Year brings, we will continue to connect people with the causes that matter to them, we will work side by side with communities, donors, fundholders to help make Northern Ireland a better place for all.

We look forward to another year of supporting communities and enabling generosity in Northern Ireland, but in the meantime we wish you a Happy Christmas and a prosperous 2019.

Andrew McCracken
CEO Community Foundation for Northern Ireland