Supporting Older People

Our foundation supports the health and wellbeing of older people through three key pillars.

Working with our supporters, partners, employees and homeowners, we offer vital funding and resources to grassroots charities and community groups to help them build happy and vibrant communities across the country that support older people. We provide help in three key areas: community grants, project support, and volunteering and work across three key themes that drive our vision of a society where older people are valued, engaged and connected with their communities.

Helping Grassroots Charitable Causes

Our approach is rooted in the belief that people need people, and that local community led organisations are best placed to identify need and provide support to people aged 65 and over. We believe in the power of small grants to make a big impact for smaller organisations that have an income limit of £500k p.a. to be eligible for funding.

We will support older people to feel valued, engaged and connected in the community by:

  • Providing grant funding to grassroots community-based charities and organisations supporting the needs of older people
  • Supporting locally focused projects with resources or volunteers
  • Partnering with charities who actively engage older people in community activities
  • Focusing on volunteer led, grassroots causes working in their local community
  • Funding core costs with unrestricted funding wherever possible
Helping young people overcome educational challenges

Promoting Intergenerational Activities

Bringing generations together brings older people a sense of purpose, invigorating and energising, while helping reduce loneliness and depression. It has also been shown to help those living with dementia. For young people it enables the sharing of life experiences, wisdom, values and joy, while teaching empathy and patience.

We will support older people to feel valued, engaged and connected through intergenerational programmes by:

  • Providing grant funding for organisations or programmes that support intergenerational activity
  • Building partnerships with charities, local schools, and community groups
  • Providing grant funding for charities and community groups supporting children to engage with older people in their community
  • Promoting intergenerational learning opportunities
Creating and enhancing community spaces

Regenerating Community Spaces

Shared community spaces, from gardens to village halls, can be valuable hubs for older people to come together, take part in activity, learn new skills, and contribute to their local area while engaging with others

We will support older people to feel valued, engaged and connected by:

  • Providing grant funding and resources to community run spaces, like village halls or gardens
  • Ensure community spaces are accessible and able to be enjoyed by all ages
  • Promoting opportunities for generations to enjoy work and recreation together
  • Bringing together communities through volunteering
  • Partnering with community charities to develop sustainable community spaces
Small Grants Programme

Small Grants
Programme

The Foundation awards one-off grants to registered charities and community organisations working towards the primary focus of our charitable outcomes. We’re keen to give grants to grassroots and volunteer led charities helping to make a difference in the community.

Our Spring Grants Programme for 2023 is now OPEN for Expressions of Interest. We’d advise anyone interested in applying for funding to attend an online webinar on the 31st. You can sign up to that HERE. This session will cover all the relevant information you need to complete an Expression of Interest and Application. 

Please note, to be eligible your organisation should be under £500k of annual income, volunteer driven, and able to demonstrate the impact of your work on people over 65 in the local community. If you meet these criteria, you can submit an Expression of Interest. 

We know that many small organisations don’t have the resources for complex or extensive grant applications and monitoring, so we will do our best to work with you to make the process simple, transparent, and fair. We will also work with you to help report on the impact the grant will have. You can also find out more in our Grant Making Policy that covers the processes and criteria in greater depth.

Lending a hand - volunteering

Volunteering can be transformational for charities, as well as hugely rewarding for those gifting their time. However, we know that the key to this is matching the needs of our charity partners with the skill sets of our many volunteers. We know that sometimes small charities need help in a wide range of ways, from leadership and management skills through to IT and Finance.

We’re always keen to hear from local projects close to McCarthy Stone developments or offices that may benefit from volunteer support. This may be working to clear a community space, supporting food delivery to older people in the community or reading at a school.

If your organisation could benefit from volunteer support, or if you’d like to volunteer with the foundation then we would love to hear from you.

Please do get in touch for more information.

Get in touch