insideKENT Magazine Issue 89 - August 2019 | Page 166

CHARITY
KENT CHARITY PROFILE:
Kent Community
Foundation
KENT COMMUNITY FOUNDATION (KCF) IS ONE OF 46 ACCREDITED LOCAL COMMUNITY
FOUNDATIONS ACROSS THE UK. SINCE 2001, KCF HAS DISTRIBUTED OVER £34 MILLION IN
GRANTS AND PROVIDES FINANCIAL SUPPORT TO HUNDREDS OF SMALLER CHARITIES AND
DESERVING CAUSES THROUGHOUT KENT AND MEDWAY. TO PROVIDE THIS SUPPORT TO
CHARITIES, KCF HELPS INDIVIDUALS, FAMILIES AND BUSINESSES ESTABLISH AND ADMINISTER
THEIR OWN CHARITABLE FUNDS TO SUPPORT THE LOCAL CAUSES THAT MEAN THE MOST
TO THEM AND WHERE A MODEST SUM OF MONEY CAN MAKE A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT.
Located in Evegate Business Park, Ashford, the KCF team of grantmakers is led
by chief executive, Josephine McCartney. Josephine has worked in the charity
sector for 20 years and has been chief executive of KCF for the last three where
she is supported by a team of 12 who work collaboratively to distribute funds to
small grassroots charities in Kent and Medway that need financial support.
Josephine loves the diversity of her role as her days are always so varied; in the
morning she could be visiting a potential donor w ho wants KCF to manage
hundreds of thousands of pounds on their behalf, and in the afternoon she could
be meeting with a c harity who might fold without financial support lea ving a
community without a vital resource.
“Kent Community Foundation connects people who care with causes that matter,
within Kent and Med way,” explains Josephine McCartney. “We work closely
with individuals, families and businesses who ask us to manage their funds and
connect them with the small grassroots charities that need financial support.”
“Some people already have causes they feel passionately about, where others
want to help wherever the need is greatest. Whatever your starting point, KCF
will ensure that your giving has a big impact w here it is needed most. T hanks
to our research into the needs of the county and the relationships we have with
charities and community groups across Kent and Medway, we can often find
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wonderful grassroots projects operating
below the radar w here a modest
sum of mone y can make a huge
difference.”
“We shoulder the b urden of all the
fund administra tion, including
handling Gift Aid r eclaims and
accounting, and we diligently review,
monitor and evaluate all applications
on behalf of our donors so they have
full confidence in our grantmaking.”
If you would like to join the growing
number of people who care, KCF has
a number of ways you can dona te,
from establishing your own fund to
pooling your donation with other like-
minded individuals or business.
The foundation has this year launched
an e xciting new ma tch-funding
partnership with The Lawson Trust.
Explaining the term ‘match funding’,
Josephine says: “A match fund offers
a great incentive for philanthropists
and businesses who have more than
£25,000 to donate as any donation
they make will be doubled. Currently
KCF ar e of fering donor s the
opportunity to donate to The Lawson
Trust Million-P ound Endo wment
Match Challenge. The Million-Pound
Endowment Match Challenge means
that for every £1 donated by you, The
Lawson Trust will ma tch it with a
donation of £1. The match fund will
raise an impressive £2 million and the
funds will be in vested in per petuity
with the income g ained every year
used for charitable grantmaking.”