For four decades now, South Yorkshire's Community Foundation (SYCF) has connected generous individuals, businesses and organisations with the grassroots groups making a difference across the region. As the region’s largest local grant funder, the foundation helps donors give in ways that create lasting impact, supporting a wide range of community projects tackling issues from poverty and mental health to employability and the environment.
With the charity celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, we spoke to chief executive Martin Singer DL about its achievements, the challenges facing communities across South Yorkshire and why place-based philanthropy has never been more important.
How did you first get involved with SYCF?
I made the change from a corporate career, so 25 years in retail leadership before moving into the voluntary sector and, more recently, this role at SYCF. The sense of purpose that drives you in the morning is massive. You go out to see groups doing amazing work with relatively small sums of money and making a real difference to people's lives. That's something that motivates all of us.
For readers who may not be familiar with the organisation, what does South Yorkshire's Community Foundation do?
South Yorkshire Community Foundation is the region's biggest local grant funder. We work with local philanthropists, corporate donors, businesses and statutory partners, including local authorities and the NHS, to get money out to community groups tackling some of the biggest issues facing our communities, whether that's poverty, homelessness, mental health, climate or the environment.
The broad description is that we connect people who care with the groups doing work in the areas our donors care about most. It's a really pivotal role because we're connecting the people doing the work, who need financial support to continue, with those who are generously willing to fund it.
Why is it so important that decisions are driven by local communities and people on the ground rather than a top-down approach?
For me, that's crucial. I often say to policymakers and decision-makers that it's a real missed opportunity if they don't have regular conversations with community organisations facing some of the biggest challenges in our communities.
Those organisations have often not only identified the issue, they've identified solutions as well. There's a missed opportunity if we don't join those dots and use that experience to make the right decisions at a local, regional and national level.
The voice of the voluntary sector is really important and one of our roles is to advocate on its behalf. We work closely with local authorities, the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority and others to make sure those voices are heard.
What are the biggest issues affecting communities across South Yorkshire at the moment?
The themes have been pretty consistent. Cost of living remains a major challenge and that connects to the long-term issue of poverty. There are still far too many people living in poverty in our region and we have some of the highest areas of deprivation in the country. That's something we don't always recognise enough.
There's also a lot of work around mental health, particularly for young people. Climate and the environment is another growing area, and employability is a big focus too, looking at how we remove barriers to work.
Every three to four years we produce a report called Vital Signs, which involves talking directly to communities about what's important to them. That helps us understand the issues that matter most and allows us to have informed conversations with donors.
How do you work with businesses and donors who want to make a difference?
Every donor receives a bespoke experience. Whether it's an individual or an organisation, we spend time understanding what they're looking to achieve through giving and why those issues matter to them.
From there, we'll recommend the best approach. That could be joining our business-led Social Value Network, making donations, or creating a long-term legacy fund through our endowment.
We're experts in place-based giving and place-based philanthropy in South Yorkshire. We use that expertise to guide people professionally and hopefully that leads to investment in our communities.
This year marks SYCF's 40th anniversary. Are there any recent projects or successes that particularly showcase the impact of your work?
I always hesitate to single out individual organisations because there are so many incredible examples.
We recently held our 40th anniversary celebration, recognising groups from Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield. Hearing their stories and reading the award submissions was incredible. It really showed the role our donors have played over four decades.
Last year we distributed £2.2 million in grants, our biggest year yet. That demonstrates the scale of the impact we can have across South Yorkshire.
We're really blessed in this region to have some absolutely magnificent voluntary sector organisations that are brilliantly led and making a real difference to people's lives every day.
The voluntary sector faces many of the same pressures as business. What challenges are you seeing from your end?
We're a charity ourselves, so we're not immune to those pressures. Like many organisations, we're seeing increasing demand for services alongside pressure on funding and rising costs.
There are lots of parallels with the business community. Despite that, our mission remains helping communities across South Yorkshire to thrive. We'll continue attracting new funding, building partnerships and working with our generous donors so we can get more money to the organisations tackling the issues that matter most.
Looking ahead, what are your priorities for the next five to 10 years?
Our mission won't change. It's about helping communities across South Yorkshire to thrive through generous donors, supporting voluntary organisations to become more sustainable and helping them grow their impact.
Ultimately, we'd love to be able to say we've made a significant impact on poverty across the region and helped improve life for everyone in South Yorkshire.
Finally, what's your message to businesses and individuals considering supporting their communities?
Please think about the role you or your organisation can play in helping our communities to thrive. The generosity of individuals and business donors makes a massive difference to the lives of so many people across the region, and together we can make South Yorkshire better for everyone.
From a business perspective, communities are where your employees live, work and play. It's where many of your customers come from and where your future employees will come from. They're a really important part of the ecosystem in which you're operating.
Please work with us and help those communities to thrive.
