£150,000 and rising

We Love Lichfield, the fund which raises money and then makes donations to voluntary groups only across the Lichfield District, has reached an amazing milestone in only two years of existence.  Through money raised through We Love Lichfield, the endowment fund which is managed by the Staffordshire Community Foundation, is now worth over £150,000 meaning it is on-target to reach £500,000 by 2016, but most importantly it can continue to give back money to organisations across the District.

Launched in 2011, We Love Lichfield provides small grants to a wide range of projects based in the Lichfield District. It raises money by companies and individuals making donations or fund-raising and all money is invested through a permanent endowment fund by the Staffordshire Community Foundation, a registered charity, on behalf of We Love Lichfield in line with charity commission guidelines. The interest and dividends earned on the invested money is then distributed by the We Love Lichfield Fund as small grants across the district. The beauty of this model is that it will provide a source of on-going funding that can be used for small grants, and larger grants as the fund grows, for many years to come.

Simon Price, CEO of cutlery firm Arthur Price and patron of the We Love Lichfield fund said: “I think it is testament to the people and companies throughout the District of Lichfield that we have achieved this amazing milestone in just two years.  The We Love Lichfield Donor Advisory Team has worked tirelessly with the support of lots of individuals and organisations including Lichfield District Council, the Lichfield Mercury and Lichfield Live.  We will now be able to give more money away, but we still have the aim of managing the fund with the help of the Staffordshire Community Fund, to reach our ultimate target of £500,000 by 2016 meaning annual donations of £25,000 per annum.”

Julian Fisher, Fund Advisor and Director of PR consultancy Townhouse Communications said: “The next step in our strategy is to encourage people to nominate the We Love Lichfield Fund when fund-raising.  If you are running in a marathon or organising a duck race we’d very much like people to consider the Fund as their ‘charity of choice’ which guarantees to give money back to organisations only based in the District.  Indeed, you could say We Love Lichfield is for the District, by the District.”