Q What is the Halton Foundation?
The Halton Foundation, supporting the communities of Runcorn and Widnes, is a partnership to link individuals, businesses and organisations with their community to actuate philanthropy across the borough of Halton, supporting community cohesion and prosperity.

Q What are the aims of the Halton Foundation?
• To support the Halton community
• To enrich their lives through connecting them with funding, businesses and people to build a thriving, resilient and prosperous community
• To provide social investment and strategic charitable grant-making that meets the needs of Halton’s local community via a united public, private and voluntary sector forum.

Q Who are the members of the Halton Foundation?
The partnership will be led by the three founding organisations: Halton Chamber of Commerce, Halton Borough Council and Halton & St Helens Voluntary and Community Action (VCA). In addition, there are contributing partners. Currently these are Cheshire Connect and Business in the Community (BITC). The Community Foundations for Lancashire and Merseyside (CFLM) will manage and administer the distribution of funding.

Q How can I contact the Halton Foundation?
General contact details can be found in the ‘Who to Contact’ section of the Halton Foundation website.
https://thehaltonfoundation.com/who-to-contact/
This page guides you to the appropriate person. However, whoever you make initial contact with they will provide the support you require or direct you to another member if that is more appropriate.

Q How can I help the Halton Foundation?
We are always looking for people and groups willing to provide time and resources to pledge support for the community in Halton. The sort of help we can use includes:
• Financial donations – donations are gratefully accepted and their distribution will be managed through the Community Foundations for Lancashire and Merseyside (CFLM). The experience and expertise of CFLM will ensure visibility and audit for all donations and their use.
• Volunteering – Individuals or teams or groups from organisations can volunteer their time to support community projects for the short or longer term. These would tend to be more general community projects but they may also use particular skills.
• Skills – Individuals and organisations are encouraged to provide help based on their professional skills knowledge, capability and abilities. This will enable high-value support to recipient organisations. Examples of the skills that can be used and matched to recipients include business management, finance, accountancy, marketing, project management, HR, Purchasing and more. The list is huge. A skills and time bank will be a valuable asset for Halton and the Foundation.
• Goods and services – frequently organisations can make their own goods and services available to support the community. Simple examples include a timber yard donating timber for a community project, a vehicle hire company providing free van or minibus hire, a web design business providing a web site for a charity. Many businesses in Halton already do this but there is always the opportunity for more.
The Halton Foundation can make connections between those who wish to donate and those looking for support.

Q What help can I request from the Halton Foundation?
Our aim is to provide a more direct link between the needs of the community with the resources of the Borough. Clearly any requests should demonstrate a benefit to the community. Examples of potential help include:
• Financial grants – these will be managed through the Community Fund for Lancashire and Merseyside and will be provided based on the criteria of the available funds.
• Skills and expertise – do you need general volunteering or specific expertise? Are you getting a new project underway and need some project advice or perhaps you need the skills to update your HR policies? Perhaps you need a team of people to undertake a general task like re-painting a community centre?
• Goods and services – there are many generous businesses who will provide items to complete a project; paint, timber, carpet, furniture, electrical items … or have surplus items such as office furniture.
The Halton Foundation may have contacts to help address the needs of the community when the community asks.

Q How do I apply for funds?
Applications for funding will be considered by a panel comprising of the Halton Foundation Partners, Each individual application will be considered by the panel provided the fund criteria has been met. When the fund is open for applicants to apply details will be available on both the Halton Foundation website: www.haltonfoundation.com and the Community Foundations for Lancashire & Merseyside website: www.cfmerseyside.org.uk

Q How will the Foundation measure the impact it has on the community?
The Community Foundations for Lancashire & Merseyside already assess the impact of funding as part of their monitoring and evaluation process. All fund recipients will be required to complete this process. We can measure number of beneficiaries and outputs – also we can provide case studies which can go onto the Halton Foundation website.

Q How will I be able to find out what the Halton Foundation has done?
The Foundation will publish an annual report on its activities.
News and local activities will be published on the Foundation website: www.thehaltonfoundation.com

Q Do I need to live in Halton to benefit from the Halton Foundation?
The aim of the Foundation is to benefit the people who live in the borough of Halton.

Q Are there any areas of community activity that the Foundation will not support?
The Community Foundations for Lancashire & Merseyside is a registered charity and will be managing the fund distribution on behalf of The Halton Foundation . In line with its charitable status as a Community Foundation there are some restrictions as to what activities cannot be funded . if you are thinking of applying for funding and require clarification as to what these restrictions might be you are advised to contact the Community Foundation direct:
Tel: 0151 232 2425.

Q Aren’t there already groups who do what the Foundation is planning to do?
Yes there are – but they are all acting independently. The Halton Foundation will establish a ‘joined up’ approach to support community cohesion by creating a partnership between local businesses and the voluntary sector to improve the lives of Halton residents and to build a thriving resilient community.