Gareth Southgate is right to shine a light on the impact of something as simple as a PE kit.
He has highlighted how the cost of sports kit can stop children from taking part, affecting confidence and inclusion off the pitch as well as on. Participation in sport and activities should never depend on what a family can afford.
At Norfolk Community Foundation, we see this reality every day. Through our Subs for Clubs programme, we’re proud to support children and young people to stay involved in sport and uniformed activities by covering the costs of kit and club or subscription fees.
Kit is a barrier, but fees are just as significant. Weekly subscriptions, match fees or uniformed group costs can push families out over time as other costs rack up. That’s why it’s so important to address both.
By removing these financial barriers, we help children stay active, build friendships, develop discipline and confidence, and feel that they truly belong.
Huge credit to Gareth Southgate for using his platform to start this conversation. Let’s keep talking – and acting – so cost doesn’t stand in the way of participation.
#ShineBrighter #SubsForClubs #Norfolk
SWAMP, a volunteer‑led group at Morston Pond, used a modest Greening our Communities grant to buy tools to restore local habitats. Volunteers have already seen new species return, and their work has been recognised with a Norfolk Biodiversity Award. Local people, caring for the places they love, are powered by Greening our Communities grants. Find out more:
norfolkfoundation.com/greening-our-communities
@morstonpondproject
Tag a local charity... 👇 FREE in-depth workshop to make your data work for you! From understanding donors to spotting patterns, telling your story and making future plans; data helps us do more.
This is a chance to pick the brains of several skilled professionals to explore your individual issues around data analysis.
There will be several @norse.group employees available, who use data analysis in their daily work, who will help you unlock what you need from your existing data.
They can show you how to extract and manipulate your data to achieve what you need and give you helpful tools, tips, and tricks.
Check out the link to training in our bio for more!
🚬Do you know a community group that could help people quit smoking? Tag them below ⬇️
Trusted community groups are often where people feel safest starting difficult conversations. The Norfolk Smokefree Generation Fund offers grants of up to £10,000 to help those groups support adults who want to quit smoking but need a place to begin.
Funding can support gentle, practical work such as starting conversations, raising awareness of local stop smoking services, offering brief advice, and helping people take their first steps when they are ready. It is designed for groups already rooted in their communities and trusted by the people they support.
If you work with, volunteer for, or know a local group supporting people facing barriers, this funding could help them build on what they already do well.
Tag a group or colleague who should see this and help spread the word.
Find out more via the link to 'Grants for Groups' in our bio!
Rising energy costs have put real pressure on village halls across Norfolk. At Bawdeswell Village Hall, initial support helped the building stay open. Longer‑term funding then supported solar panels and battery storage, cutting bills and strengthening the hall’s future. This is how funding can move communities from survival to sustainability.
Thanks to our Norfolk Offshore Wind Farms Fund, powered by @rwe_uk , solar panels and battery storage have equipped the hall for a sustainable future.
Local businesses play a vital role in strengthening community action. @notcuttsuk Norwich is donating the proceeds from paper carrier bags to the Greening our Communities Fund, helping grassroots projects improve local green spaces. When people and businesses give locally, support stays close to home.
Funding is not the only way communities are supported to grow greener. Through our Good for Good Skills Exchange, local business professionals share their expertise to help community groups build safely and sustainably. At St Faith's Sunflowers Community Volunteer Group, advice from Sarah Daniels at @newsfromredcat helped strengthen health and safety practices as the group’s gardening work expanded. Practical support like this gives volunteers confidence and helps local action thrive, while reserving vital funds for small voluntary groups for frontline work.
This might be my favourite photo from yesterday’s workshop.
🤨 Not just because there are brilliant people from wonderful charities in it, but because:
💡 In trying out some new collaborative techniques I embraced the fear of doing new things in real time
🎯 and it worked.
An expectations conversation at the start of the day revealed insufficient opportunities for the different organisations in the room to connect with each other.
So using an appreciative enquiry approach, I flexed the plan and we spent 40 invaluable minutes where without interruption, participants could talk about their organisation and reflect back what the conditions for success are when delivering a successful protect.
This worked as a neat segue into an activity about impact and its wider ripples.
Sorry for the facilitation geekery - a huge amount of thinking, planning and iterating goes into a bespoke one-day workshop and it doesn’t always work.
Sometimes it does work. It just doesn’t get you to where you thought you were going to go.
#facilitation #charities #norfolk #socialenterprise #relationships
Congratulations to National Coastwatch Brancaster on four years of keeping watch along our coast.
We are proud to have supported the charity through the Greening Our Communities Fund, the Chiplow Wind Farm Fund and West Norfolk Rural Community Capital Grants, helping the team grow a purpose‑built, eco‑friendly station rooted in local need.
Based in Brancaster, the volunteer‑led station has become a vital year‑round presence, helping keep people safe and supporting rapid responses to incidents along this stretch of shoreline.
Thank you to the dedicated volunteers who give their time as the eyes and ears of the coast, and to the wider community whose support makes this work possible.
#ShineBrighter
Since 2021, Greening our Communities has supported 89 community projects across Norfolk. More than 20,000 people have benefited, through restored green spaces, cheaper bills for community spaces and stronger local connections. Small, practical support can make a big difference when it is shaped by local communities.
