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How you can help?
We want to encourage donations from companies, small businesses and also private donations to help our fund grow. We appreciate that you are constantly bombarded with requests for donations but this is a fund which will help your local community. If you would like to donate, please contact the Community Foundation in Wales on their contact telephone number of 029 2052 0250.
Be safe!
There are unscrupulous people out there who might try to raise money pretending to be on behalf of the Vale Life – Better Life Fund. Please don’t feel embarrassed to check with us to make sure they are who they say they are.
How do I apply for funding?
All applications should be sent in writing to:
Kathryn Hall,
Development Officer, The Community Foundation in Wales, 14-16 Merthyr Road, Whitchurch, Cardiff CF14 1DG
Telephone 029 2052 0250 Kathryn@cfiw.org.uk
Would you like to stock
Vale Life?
Obviously the more copies we sell, the more money we can give back into the local community. We have a number of outlets who are going to sell Vale Life, but if you are a retailer and would like to sell the magazine from your premises, then please get in touch to discuss the opportunities.
If you would like more information, please email me at jennifer@valelife.co.uk
or phone 0845 130 6452.
Thank you all for your support to date – long may it continue!
Jennifer
Editor |
Liza Kellett, Chief Executive of the Community Foundation in Wales, is delighted to be working with Vale Life Magazine to channel more funds into great causes in the Vale.
“This is a fantastic opportunity for voluntary groups in the Vale to gain much needed support. It’s brilliant to see a new local business leading the way in demonstrating its commitment to its local area by returning a portion of their profits to local communities in such an innovative way”.
Liza also stressed that other businesses and individuals that care about the Vale are encouraged to make further contributions to the fund to maximise the support available to community projects,
“It is inevitable that once the Vale Life fund opens for applications we will receive many more requests for funding than we are able to support. We would be delighted to speak to any businesses, individuals, families or trusts who would be interested in getting involved by making a contribution to this fund and we applaud Vale Life Magazine for leading the way” |
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BETTER VALE, BETTER LIFE
“We applaud Vale Life magazine for leading
the way.” Liza Kellett, Chief Executive of CFiW
Why Vale Life? I thought I’d let you all know how Vale Life came about, as this is something we’re asked very often. Mark and I were out with friends one evening having a quiet drink and a catch up. On the table next to us were copies of various magazines and we just got talking about them. We were saying how we’d like to read about the people living and working in the Vale. Our friends said that as we had the skills between us to produce a magazine which we’d like to read.
As my background is in public relations and marketing and Mark’s is design (he has his own graphic design company), we had to agree. Now that the thought had been put in our minds, there was no looking back. This was back in March 2007 and we then set ourselves the task of putting the first issue together in just three months and our very first issue of Vale Life was published in the summer.
Positive feedback – great support
The feedback has been amazing. We seem to be giving people what they want – a good read – which is what we set out to do. We know that budgets are tight and promotion is the last thing people want to think about when they’ve got overheads to pay but the support we’ve received from the many business people in the Vale has been incredible. We are now meeting more and more people and, being a people person myself, I couldn’t wish for a better job.
The people who have supported us are continuing to support us and can measure the success of their promotion with the many new faces coming through their doors, which is satisfying to them and us!
Going on sale
Vale Life will be going on sale as from the Spring issue which will be published in early April 2008. The cost will be £1.95, with a contribution from each sale going to the retailer of the magazine and a further contribution going into a social fund for local good causes. We are calling it the Vale Life – Better Life Fund. We had every intention of the magazine going on sale when we first thought of publishing a local magazine but thought that it would take longer for people to take to the magazine in the way they have. We hope that the cost of £1.95 will be affordable for all. We thought that less than £8.00 a year would be achievable for most people, especially when they knew that a percentage would be going back into their local community.
Our Vale Life, Better Life
Fund administrators
We are working with The Community Foundation in Wales, a charity that administers funds independently although we will have an input into the criteria involved when deciding where the funds go. It may be that a local cricket club needs a new kit, a school that needs new equipment or an elderly association that needs specialised equipment. We don’t want people to have to jumps through hoops and fill out loads of forms in order to get the cash they need, as is usually the case, and applications for funding from our social fund will be as painless as possible
Why are we working with The Community Foundation in Wales?
We wanted everything to be above board and transparent. We also didn’t think we’d have the time to deal with all of the administration that goes into running a social fund. Also, we didn’t want a big pot of money
in the bank account tempting us to swan off to the Maldives (tempting as that would be!) We are only human after all! Liza Hallett, Chief Executive of Community Foundation in Wales had this to say about the fund
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VALEWIDE
Introducing CFiW to Vale Life readers
The Community Foundation in Wales (CFiW) is an impartial and independent charity, whose primary aim is to support voluntary sector organisations all over Wales, especially those working to improve the quality of life and to address the most pressing needs within their own communities.
We know only too well how sorely help is needed for such groups, how committed and energetic they are, and how much they deserve every possible penny we can raise for them.
Life for these groups is extremely difficult and charitable giving, all too often goes to the well-known national and international charities. The Foundation brings in funding for these organisations by working with a variety of sources, including generous individuals and families who want to put something back into their community; also businesses, such as Vale Life magazine, who want to be good corporate citizens and fulfil their corporate social responsibility remit.
Significant other sources are Sport Relief, for whom CFiW handles grant distribution throughout Wales, and the BIG Lottery’s Fair Share initiative, which is entirely delegated to CFiW and other Community Foundations around the UK.
CFiW also seeks to establish a permanent and independent source of funding by building up an endowment fund, a ‘People’s Fund’ as we call it, where only the interest and dividends are distributed and the principal is retained, and with wise investment, grows over time.
Our People’s Fund is made up of the aggregate of a number of funds which have been set up, some with quite specific geographic or thematic areas of benefit. The total value of The People’s Fund now stands at just over £1m, and we employ highly respected fund managers to ensure that the Fund is securely invested and provides a good return for grant-making.
For businesses, individuals and indeed all our donors, we provide a high quality, professional and complete service, to exacting standards which have been endorsed by the Charity Commission. We take all administrative hassle out of managing the process of publicising grants, managing applications sympathetically and thoroughly, and supporting the applicants. Above all we give our donors the security of knowing that their generosity is carefully targeted to the most worthwhile causes in the community, and that their donations really will hit the right spot.
In the past three years, CFiW has distributed, from all our various sources, more than £2m in grants to 200 different community groups throughout Wales. In this financial year, we are on track to be able to distribute £1m in total.
An example of a local project that has recently received support from CFiW is Cardiff and Vale Rescue Association, which received a grant of £500 to buy two new stretchers.
Other examples include a grant of £1,800 to Amelia Trust Farm to cover volunteer costs for one year and a Young Mum’s Project in Penarth which received £300 towards the provision of nursery equipment.CFIW is a member of a worldwide network of independent Community Foundations, each of them providing invaluable support to local projects and local people carrying our vital and inspirational work in their local communities.
In the UK there are now over 60 Community Foundations: those in England cover single counties or cities, whilst in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland there is one to cover the whole country. The 60 UK Foundations collectively have awarded over £340 million in grants to over 18,500 local community groups, making Community Foundations taken as a whole the fifth largest funder of voluntary organisations and community groups in the UK.
For more information on the Community Foundation in Wales or to make a donation to the Vale Life Fund please contact:
Kathryn Hall
Development Officer
The Community Foundation in Wales
14-16 Merthyr Road Whitchurch,
Cardiff CF14 1DG
02920 520250
Email Kathryn@cfiw.org.uk |
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