Community benefit fund

The LHC Community Benefit Fund is a great success story – for the community groups it helps across our five regions and for members who take the lead on which projects the fund supports.

Over the last year over £325,000 has been invested in 51 community projects, targeting broad areas of need, from skills training for older men to equipment for people with dementia, community gardens to young people’s facilities in deprived areas. The fund has also helped community groups adapt to the new environment created by the coronavirus pandemic, with projects established to give meals and support to the homeless and vulnerable.

The fund is generated from LHC surplus and is ring-fenced specifically for community investment projects. Managers are appointed in each region to provide independent, expert advice on finding local charity partners that meet the social inclusion priorities of members.

Our team in Scotland is now in its third year of distributing grants, working in partnership with the Lintel Trust. In its first year operating a fund, LHC London & South East has made grants to 23 organisations totalling nearly £119,000, working with the independent fund manager Locality

Teams in Wales and South West England have continued to build the scale and reach of their Community Benefit Funds and in North England, our newest regional hub, a strategy is now in place for the operation of a fund with members.

For all our employees, the Community Benefit Fund and the impact it has on charity partners is very motivating. It supports the purpose we share across the organisation of enhancing local communities. We will continue to promote the impact of the fund and work hard to increase the total value of projects using our frameworks, to build a bigger surplus for reinvestment in local communities in coming years.