Equity, diversity and inclusion
Equity, diversity and inclusion
At Cornwall Community Foundation, we exist to serve the communities of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. Ensuring we hear, support, and work alongside all members of our community is at the heart of our mission and vision.
We recognise that advancing equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) is a continuous journey. In some areas, we’ve made strong progress. In others, we know we have much more to do. We are committed to being transparent about this work, and this page shares a summary of what we’ve done so far. We’ll continue to update it regularly as we learn and evolve.
Our EDI strategy
Our 2025–2030 Strategy was developed with inclusivity at its core. We are committed to ensuring equitablePromoting equality - Equal, fair, unbiased, impartial. access to grant funding and opportunities.
To better understand the needs of our communities, we are working in partnership with the University of Exeter through our Vital Signs research. This research explores the challenges and opportunities across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, with a focus on inclusive community insight.
Through the dedicated work of our Community Outreach Officer, we actively engage with communities in some of Cornwall’s most deprived neighbourhoods and from underfunded identity-based communities, helping to increase funding to those facing systemic barriers to funding and inclusion. We offer workshops and one-to-one support to help people apply for funding because we believe access to funding should not be a barrier to impact.
We are diversifying decision making across our funding portfolio and moving towards more participatory grant panels wherever possible, including having more experts by experience on our grant panels. Our Grants Committee includes members from Cornwall Pride, Black Voices Cornwall, Carefree Cornwall and Wild Young Parents, helping to bring diverse perspectives and provide accountability to our grant making processes.
We’re proud to be part of the IVAR Open and Trusting grant makers community, helping us embed best practice in how we fundA sum of money made available for grant making, often with specific criteria/conditions. and collaborate. We publish success rates for each of our funds to support transparency, and we’re committed to building positive, place-based, and relational funding approaches.
In 2023 and 2024, we ran anonymous online surveys to gather honest feedback from applicants. This feedback has been reviewed by our Grants Committee and is helping us improve the clarity, accessibility and inclusiveness of our application process.
We’re committed to building our internal understanding of equity and inclusion. Our staff team take part in an ongoing EDI training programme, and we have recently taken part in valuable training led by Black Voices Cornwall, Cornwall Pride and TravellerSpace Cornwall. This work strengthens our understanding of the lived experiences of different communities and helps inform how we operate.
We believe that diversity of thought, background and lived experience strengthens our organisation. We are committed to the fair treatment of all employees and applicants and are guided by our Equal Opportunities and Diversity Policy, which also informs our grantmaking and fund development.
We are focused on building inclusive spaces and reflecting the diversity of our communities in both our staff and Board. This year we will undertake a survey that would help us monitor the diversity of our staff and trustee team, to help inform our recruitment practices and ensure a broad degree of representation among our team.
Grant making data in 2024
We actively monitor our grant making data to ensure we are reaching our most underfunded communities. We look forward to continuing to diversity our funding opportunities over the next strategic period, and will use this data to benchmark our progress.
| £ total awards | % of grant awards | |
| Children and Young People | £601,110.55 | 20% |
| People living in poverty | £508,482.49 | 17% |
| Local residents | £502,999.35 | 17% |
| People experiencing homelessness | £282,841.50 | 9% |
| Families / parents | £278,870.68 | 9% |
| People living with mental health issues | £189,054.45 | 6% |
| People living with a long-term health or life-limiting condition | £104,590.00 | 3% |
| Victims or survivors of crime/violence/abuse | £94,686.00 | 3% |
| People living in rural areas | £89,520.67 | 3% |
| Older adults | £70,810.92 | 2% |
| People with learning disabilities and/or neurodivergence | £53,610.00 | 2% |
| Veterans | £44,996.00 | 1% |
| People who self-identify as LGBTQ+ | £38,040.00 | 1% |
| People with physical or sensory disabilities | £30,924.88 | 1% |
| Women and/or girls | £28,917.20 | 1% |
| Black, Asian and minoritised ethnic | £28,547.00 | 1% |
| Ex-offenders/offenders/people at risk of offending | £19,500.00 | 1% |
| Carers | £19,000.00 | 1% |
| Refugees/asylum seekers/immigrants | £18,855.65 | 1% |
| Men and/or boys | £18,049.00 | 1% |
| People experiencing substance misuse | £18,000.00 | 1% |
Help us grow
Your ideas and experiences matter. If you’d like to discuss our EDI work or share your thoughts, please get in touch with us at office@cornwallfoundation.com or call us on 01566 779 333.
Together, we can build a fairer, more inclusive Cornwall and Isles of Scilly.
