Milestone development in community philanthropy announced at CFN conference

A new website that aims to promote local giving could be one of the most significant developments in community philanthropy this decade according to the Community Foundation Network which launched the site to community foundations at its biennial conference last week.

Individual donors will be able to make donations using Localgiving.com through eight community foundations from this autumn, and the service will be rolled out across the UK network of almost 60 community foundations in 2010.

Through the website, donors will be able to give to grassroots local charities and community groups through community foundations. These donations will be eligible for Gift Aid. Donors will be able to track the impact of their donations through online reports detailing local groups’ activities, underpinned by measurement and statistics.

Stephen Hammersley, chief executive of CFN, told Philanthropy UK that “Localgiving.com has the potential to be one of the most significant developments in community philanthropy this decade.”

At the conference held in Nottignham, CFN also launched the final version of its Manifesto for Community Philanthropists, which has been the subject of consultation over the summer. The manifesto aims to shape political thinking in the run-up to the next general election.

Matthew Bowcock, chair of the Community Foundation Network (CFN), said, “We need to empower local people to fund and deliver change within their own communities.”

Among its recommendations the manifesto calls on government to promote the teaching of charity in schools to achieve “a long-term shift in the culture of philanthropy in the UK”.

The government currently promotes philanthropy in schools through the citizenship agenda and a culture of philanthropy in young people through Giving Nation (G-Nation), funded by Office of the Third Sector.

Speakers at the conference included Angela Smith MP, Minister for the Third Sector; philanthropist Dame Stephanie Shirley, the government’s Ambassador for Philanthropy; Dame Suzi Leather, chair of the Charity Commission for England & Wales; and New Philanthropy Capital (NPC) chief executive Martin Brookes.

“The message that local is not the same as small came through loud and clear” from all speakers, Hammersley said.

CFN also announced that the next set of Beacon awards, which they now manage, will open for nominations in November 2009. The next awards will be made in November 2010.

To download a full copy of the final Manifesto for Community Philanthropists visit the CFN website.