Welcome to Virgin Money Foundation
We support local people to deliver positive change in the communities where it is needed the most
About Us
Since 2015 the Virgin Money Foundation has awarded over £13million to local charities working to create positive change in their community.
We invest in neighbourhood level organisations – those that know their community best and what is needed to tackle the issues that hold them back.
Our funding has been targeted at communities located in the top 20% of the Index of Multiple Deprivation and focused upon the North East of England and the City of Glasgow. We have learnt from organisations in these communities about the issues that if addressed would result in positive change for the local community. One of these issues is digital poverty.
Over the next few years, through its programmes, the Foundation will be working to support organisations to make a real and lasting difference in their neighbourhood by enabling digital inclusion.
Find out more about the foundation
Building Digital Skills Fund
The North East of England and Scotland are two of the areas in the UK facing the highest levels of digital exclusion. Community Anchors are well placed to, or already are, responding to this, tackling digital exclusion and helping to close the digital divide.
Our new grants programme will allow these Community Anchor organisations to apply for a grant of up to £100,000 over a period of up to three years, applications to this fund are by invitation only.
Volunteer and Connect Fund
Digital Poverty does not only affect adults, 20% of children in the UK live in digital poverty too. We want to change this by providing support to children so that they become digitally confident.
Our colleagues at Virgin Money who volunteer with a school (for children aged 5-16yrs) or organisation that supports children’s education outside of mainstream schooling, can apply for a grant of up to £2,000 for the school to help tackle digital exclusion. From kit to lend out to families facing digital poverty, to new software and digital skills training, the grants will work to build the digital confidence of young people around the UK.
Digital Champions Programme
Acknowledging that digital poverty arises from three key issues; lack of digital skills, lack of access to a suitable device and lack of connectivity, we have launched an exciting volunteering initiative for our colleagues at Virgin Money who want to be part of addressing these challenges. Through the programme, Virgin Money colleagues receive training to become Digital Champions. Using this training they are then supported to volunteer at a local foodbank, assisting people with immediate digital needs.
Rosemount Lifelong Learning
Rosemount Lifelong Learning grew out of a parents’ group in Royston in 1978, back then it offered a nursery and vocational courses for mums who wanted to return to work, now it offers a range of learning opportunities for the whole community.
Rosemount exists to tackle poverty and social exclusion and increase the life chances for those living in the North Glasgow area. One of the important ways it does this is by helping the community to become digitally confident and build their digital skills.
Over the last few years we have provided funding to Rosemount to keep its vital services going including its IT and Digital Skills workshops and Employability and Skills development courses.
Govan Community Project
Govan Community Project was founded as a response to the needs of refugees and those seeking asylum in the Glasgow area. It runs a range of activities and services designed to provide a warm welcome to these communities and to support them as they settle into Glasgow and navigate complex systems.
As well as providing support through the asylum system, access to affordable culturally appropriate food and a listening ear, they also support people facing digital exclusion through the provision of devices, data and digital skills training. We have supported Govan Community Project over the years enabling it to grow a range of its services.
Shiney Advice and Resource Project (SHARP)
SHARP was established in 1981 by a group of local people in response to the rising levels of unemployment across the town. The area was heavily dependant on coal mining and during the strike SHARP became a trusted organisation providing free, independent welfare rights benefits and debt advice, training, volunteering and many other activities to meet local needs and community priorities. Today SHARP continues to support people to access the benefits they are entitled to and maximise their income. They also support people in digital poverty to get online and to develop new digital skills.
We have funded SHARP over a number of years so that it is able to continue its fantastic and much needed work, social isolation as well as promoting health and wellbeing.
Open data
The Virgin Money Foundation is committed to being transparent and we work with 360Giving to publish information about our grants. We believe that with better information, grantmakers can make more effective decisions. 360Giving provides support for them to publish data openly, understand that data and use it to create online tools to make grantmaking more beneficial. For more information, visit http://www.threesixtygiving.org Link opens in a new window
To view information on our grants, in the 360Giving data standard.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License Link opens in a new window.
