Our new strategy and refreshed identity

Our name has become quite confusing. We were set up as the Tyne & Wear Foundation 25 years ago. We then expanded and became Community Foundation serving Tyne & Wear and Northumberland. That’s very long, so gets shortened by people in different ways. Meanwhile, we already have donors whose funds make grants outside our historic base. Some of our initiatives are region-wide, like Vital Signs. And we’re increasingly working with people and businesses who want to make a difference in the region but are based elsewhere in the UK or overseas. For all these reasons, ‘Community Foundation North East’ will be a much clearer and more accurate name.

People have different ideas about the boundaries of the North East. But for us, our closest connections and partnerships are in the area covered by the North East Combined Authority and Mayor. Although some of our work may continue to reach the Tees Valley, it won’t be a focus. 

We already make grants from funds which cover County Durham and Tees Valley, and we provide some sector support work there too. We’re not planning to spread our existing grant-making for Tyne and Wear and Northumberland more widely and we will continue to have grants just for those areas. But we will work with donors and partners to grow philanthropy, funding and support, so together we serve the wider region. As ever, organisations seeking funding should check the apply page of our website for information about where we are currently offering funding.  

Where donors and partners want to make gifts or set up funds to benefit the south of the region, we advise them first to speak to partners that serve those areas. But we will continue to engage and support donors who want to work across, or in, different parts of the North East, as we do already. 

No – we will continue to support your wishes and interests. But we will be talking to all our donors about our new strategy and how funds might grow and adapt as we look to have an even greater impact. If you would like to broaden the area your fund covers, we’d be happy to discuss.   

Everything about our grant process and agreement is the same. If you have been using the previous version of our logo on your website or elsewhere, we’ll ask you to update that if you easily can. Information about using our updated logo is here.

Our charity number and company number are the same. We will be changing the legal name on our governing document to match the new operating name in the coming months. We won’t need to change anything else about our charitable objects or area of benefit.