The Isle of Wight Community Foundation (IWCF) has announced the establishment of the ‘Newport Social Needs Fund’, a fund of £59,000 to support the advancement of health, saving life and the prevention or relief of poverty for the district of Newport.
Newport Social Needs Fund will award annual grants to smaller local voluntary and community groups who work with vulnerable and disadvantaged people, helping to improve their life chances.
The fund was originally founded as the Newport and District Nursing Association in 1951 and later became the Newport Sick Poor Fund to provide pensions to former nurses of the association and supply special food and medicine, medical comforts, bedding, fuel and surgical appliances. The fund also awarded grants to cover convalescent expenses and the expense of domestic help during convalescence, with assets comprising the proceeds of the sale of 2 properties in Crocker Street, Newport.
In recent years it has become increasingly difficult for the trustees to identify qualifying beneficiaries for grant-making and replace retiring trustees, raising concerns that the charity could not provide the proper charitable and public benefit that it had been set up to achieve. As a result, the trustees requested that the Charity Commission close down the charity and transfer all assets to IWCF, a charity connecting donors to the local causes that they have a real interest in supporting.
Jakes Ferguson, Chief Executive at IWCF has said:
“We are delighted that the trustees have chosen IWCF to administer the Newport Social Needs Fund, as we are best placed to direct grant money to where it is most needed, and most importantly the fund will continue in perpetuity to meet the needs of vulnerable people of Newport. By removing the original fund’s permanent endowment, we can ensure that 5% of the fund will be spent annually, making more money available for good causes”.
