Case Studies

Our case studies highlight the people, projects and communities supported through Lincolnshire Community Foundation. They offer insight into the difference local giving, partnership working and targeted funding can make, showcasing the real impact created through collaboration and community-led action across Greater Lincolnshire.

Community Impact in Action

Every story reflects the dedication of local organisations, volunteers and community leaders working to create positive change. Through these examples, we celebrate the commitment, resilience and innovation shown by communities responding to local needs and opportunities.

By sharing these experiences, we aim to inspire learning, encourage collaboration and demonstrate the value of investing in local people and places. Together, these case studies illustrate how community-led action, supported through partnership and funding, can help communities grow stronger and thrive.

Filter Case Studies

Region

StrawbaleVegUK

A MAST grant helped StrawbaleVegUK replace vital equipment, enabling Simon to protect his business and continue supplying customers from Lincoln.

I.D.E.A Donnington

A grant from Triton Knoll Offshore Wind Farm Community Fund improved Flinders Park, creating a safer and more welcoming play area for local children and families.

Haven Domestic Abuse Service

Funding helped Haven Domestic Abuse support survivors in South Holland, improving access to safety, guidance and specialist support in rural communities.

Willoughby Road Allotments – The Edible Academy

Funding helped expand café facilities at Willoughby Road Allotments, creating a welcoming space that supports wellbeing, connection and community life.

Tonic Health, Boston

Funding helped launch a new youth hub in Boston, giving young people a voice in shaping a safe, welcoming space designed around their needs.

Hope House Church

Funding from the Bishop of Lincoln’s Social Justice Fund helped Hope House support homeless men with housing, guidance and pathways towards stability.

Volunteer it Yourself, Boston

Funding helped renovate a Boston community centre while giving young people practical skills, qualifications and confidence through hands-on learning.

Classics Enrichment, Olympus Challenge

A Spital Charity grant helped De Aston students explore Classics through hands-on learning, building confidence, curiosity and new educational opportunities.

Boston Lithuanian Community

Funding from the Bishop of Lincoln’s Social Justice Fund helped Boston Lithuanian Community support families through cultural activities, learning and community connections.

Islamic Association Of Lincoln

Lincoln Mosque supported families during COVID-19 through its food bank, providing essential food, practical help and community support across Lincoln.

Friends of Spalding Railway Station

Funding helped transform Spalding Railway Station, creating a safer, greener and more welcoming space shaped by volunteers and community pride.

Furnichurch, Mablethorpe

Funding helped Furnicrunch expand support for local people in hardship, improving services and strengthening help for low-income households in Mablethorpe.

Ukrainian Cultural Centre Lincoln

Funding helped Ukrainian Cultural Centre Lincoln support refugees through learning, cultural activities and community connections, building confidence and belonging.

Gainsborough Men’s Shed

Funding helped Gainsborough Men’s Shed expand activities, creating opportunities for skills, friendship and improved wellbeing through creativity and connection.

The Forge Project, Scunthorpe

Funding helped The Forge Project provide meals, support and volunteering opportunities, creating a welcoming space for people facing homelessness and hardship.

Gosberton Foodbank

During the pandemic, Gosberton Pop-up Foodbank united volunteers and local partners to deliver food and practical support to vulnerable families across local communities.

East Coast Pride, Skegness

Funding helped launch East Coast Pride in Skegness, creating an inclusive celebration that raised awareness, strengthened connections and supported LGBTQIA+ communities.

Gosberton Youth Club

Funding helped strengthen a community centre, improving accessibility, sustainability and opportunities for local people to connect and take part.

Hensell Goat Rescue Care Farm, Sutton on Sea

Funding helped create a new farm classroom and accessible facilities, expanding learning opportunities and welcoming more visitors and community groups.

Sixth Form Enrichment

A Spital Charity grant helped De Aston students explore new skills and creative activities, building confidence, wellbeing and lasting opportunities beyond the classroom.

Sutton Bridge Community Larder

Funding helped Sutton Bridge Community Larder meet rising demand, providing food and essential supplies for vulnerable people and families.

Leverton Church Hall – Leverton

Funding helped renovate Leverton Church Hall, creating a warm, accessible community hub and revitalising a valued space for local groups and events.

ACTS Trust

A grant from the High Sheriff’s Fund helped Acts Trust deliver holiday activities, building confidence, friendships and positive experiences for young people in Lincoln.

St. Margaret’s Pre-School

Laceby Solar Farm Community Fund helped improve St Margaret’s Pre-School playground, creating a safer and more engaging outdoor space for local children.

Samaritans of Grantham

Funding from the Evan Cornish Fund helped Samaritans of Grantham train new listeners, support volunteer travel and continue helping people facing difficult times.

The Laceby Community Collective

Since 2018, Laceby Solar Farm Community Fund has supported local projects and community-led regeneration, helping transform facilities and strengthen community life.

Woodlands Infant & Nursery School

Funding transformed Woodlands’ library into an inspiring space, encouraging reading, creativity and a greater love of learning among pupils.

THE ROCK FOUNDATION

Lincolnshire Community Foundation funding helped The Rock Foundation meet rising demand, providing food, deliveries and support to vulnerable people in Grimsby.

Moving Forward, Lincoln

Funding helped Moving Forward expand peer support for women affected by domestic abuse, creating a safe space for healing, connection and confidence.

JB’s Community Outreach

Funding helped JB’s Community Outreach deliver leadership training, building confidence, skills and opportunities for young people across Lincolnshire.

St. George’s Church Primary School

NET Coronavirus Appeal funding helped St George’s School provide meals, food parcels and community support to families and vulnerable residents in Gainsborough.

Linkage Community Trust

Funding helped deliver sensory therapy and play sessions, improving confidence, communication and support for disabled children and their families.

Cat Hall

An Ideas and Innovation Bursary helped develop plans for intergenerational living in Lincolnshire, supporting learning, leadership and community innovation.

The Grimsby Food Kitchen

Funding for new equipment helped Grimsby Food Kitchen provide hot meals, support and a safe, welcoming space for homeless and vulnerable people.

Sleaford New Life Community Larder

Sleaford New Life Community Larder supported families facing hardship during COVID-19, providing food, practical help and vital community support across North Kesteven.

Boston and South Holland Talking Newspaper Association

Funding from the Evan Cornish Fund helped Talking Newspaper modernise its service, improving audio quality and supporting visually impaired listeners locally.

Blessings Food Service CIC

Funding helped Blessings Food Service CIC provide meals, activities and food education, supporting families facing hardship with care and practical help.

I.D.E.A Donington

A grant from Triton Knoll Offshore Wind Farm Community Fund repaired Flinders Park’s play area, improving safety and creating a safer space for local children.

St George’s Church Parochial Church Council

Funding from the Bishop of Lincoln’s Social Justice Fund helped St George’s strengthen community connections, learning and inclusion across Crosby.

Christian Action & Resource Enterprise Ltd (CARE)

Funding helped CARE bring festive cheer to children across North East Lincolnshire, providing toys, treats and support for families facing hardship.

Flinders Founders, Donington

Funding helped improve Donington’s BMX track, creating a safer, more engaging space that encouraged confidence, leadership and community pride among young people.

Lincolnshire Traveller Initiative

Funding from the Evan Cornish Fund helped create family and wellbeing groups, supporting children’s development and improving health and social connections.

Anderby Rocks

Funding from Triton Knoll helped Anderby Rocks enhance its annual festival with new equipment, creating a safer and more enjoyable event for the local community.

Citizen’s Advice

Citizens Advice Mid Lincolnshire received funding to improve specialist advice services, helping staff and volunteers support vulnerable people across the local community.

Birchwood Scout Hut

Funding helped improve the Scout Hut, creating a safer, more accessible and welcoming space for young people and the wider community.

Angel Sweet – Old School Gym

A SWEF grant helped The Old School Gym expand equipment, improving access to fitness and supporting healthier lifestyles in Mablethorpe.

Holbeach Amateur Theatrical Society

Funding helped HATS buy sound and lighting equipment, improving performances, keeping theatre affordable and creating inclusive opportunities for local people.

Thistles Market Garden

Funding helped Thistles Market Garden improve safety, access and participation, creating more opportunities for adults with learning difficulties to learn and connect.

Andrew Deeley

Trustee

Andrew has built his career across a wide range of business sectors, working his way up to board level and gaining experience in all the key areas of running and growing organisations. Alongside this commercial background, he has a long-standing commitment to the charity and community sector, where he has helped secure funding for projects ranging from youth initiatives to major heritage and regeneration schemes. He is particularly focused on encouraging philanthropy in Lincolnshire, connecting local donors and advisors with community needs, and ensuring that resources are directed where they can make the biggest difference across the county.

Craig Cooksley

Trustee

Craig brings over 30 years of expertise in innovation, media, and marketing to Lincolnshire Community Foundation, with a passion for transforming lives through innovation. With a background in electronics, he applied his technology and transformation expertise at Reach PLC, parent of the Mirror Newspaper, as Head of Innovation, driving digital advancements.

After three years in Asia supporting tech startups, he returned to the UK to launch 4th Revolution, a marketing and innovation consultancy. His philanthropy includes leading a £10 million West Midlands RGF project, helping fund early-stage businesses and startups, and co-founding LoveBrum, a Birmingham-based charity distributing grants to community projects to enhance Birmingham. Based in Skegness, Craig is dedicated to improving lives in Lincolnshire through better access to training and funding.

Danielle Lowther

Trustee

Danielle’s main reason for wanting to be part of the Foundation was the amazing work it’s undertakes to make life better for local people and organisations. Danielle currently work’s for Lincolnshire Co-op as a Senior Community Co-ordinator and is very passionate about community development especially in Lincolnshire where she has spent most of her life. Danielle has extensive experience of project/event management and networking in communities which she hopes she will be able to use her skills to contribute to the Foundation as Trustee.

John Maitland

Trustee

John was born in Lincolnshire and after a short stint in the Army, he spent his career in Financial Services both in London and abroad. After over 30 years in Banking, John ended his Executive career as CEO of Kleinwort Hambros Bank and has now returned full time to Lincolnshire. John joined the Foundation at the end of 2020 and is looking forward to helping the them move forward in the future.

Stephen Ryder

Trustee

Former Chair, Stephen, with a background in education and journalism, assumed the role of Managing Director of CPO in April 2006. His daily tasks involve overseeing the organisation and driving business development. Stephen’s commitment to using education to alleviate disadvantage and poverty in local communities is evident in all endeavors undertaken by him and his team at CPO. In addition to his primary role, Stephen serves as the Community Engagement Manager for Rethink Mental Illness and chairs the Mental Health Alliance.

He leads the Preventative & Early Help Strategic Board for Children’s Services, participates in the Youth Partnership Board, serves as Vice Chair of the Youth Engagement Alliance and the Youth Justice Steering Group. Furthermore, he holds the position of Vice Chair for the NEL VCSE Alliance and the NEL VCSE Forum, along with being a Governor at John Whitgift Academy.

Paula Baumber

Trustee

Before signing up as a trustee, Paula was the governors who steered our original “community bank”, the cornerstone of our early endowment building. Paula worked in banking for nearly 30 years, specialising in governance and risk management. With the Foundation she leads on the development of our Domestic Abuse response: developing, commissioning and co funding service provision.

Lizzie Milligan-Manby

Vice Chair

For many years Lizzie was attached to the Princes Trust – 10 of which as Lincolnshire chair. She now does a similar (voluntary) job for the Foundation, overseeing our Make-a-Start programme (small grants for personal development). She has expended huge amounts of energy on fund raising – not least “One Day More”: 3 days of outdoor opera at Doddington Hall.

Paul Scott

Chair

Paul, with a background in business management, previously served as a director at the Grimsby Enterprise Agency and the National Federation of Enterprise Agencies. He actively manages his own business and is deeply engaged in community development along the east coast of Lincolnshire. Paul has long been a trustee of the Community Foundation and resumed his role as chairman, currently participating in the finance sub-group committee. His areas of focus include health and social inequalities, enterprise development, and cultural heritage.

Cara Elliott

Finance & Grantmaker

Office: 01529 305825

Cara supports the organisation’s financial operations to help ensure that funding reaches the people and projects that need it most. She holds an AAT Advanced Diploma in Accounting Level 3 qualification in Bookkeeping (achieved in 2021), and brings a strong focus on accuracy, organisation, and accountability to the organisation. Before moving into finance, Cara gained valuable experience working directly with members of the public and supporting young adults with learning difficulties.

These roles developed her communication skills, patience, and a deep appreciation for the positive impact that inclusive, community-focused work can have. She is passionate about combining her financial skills with purpose-driven work that makes a real difference. Cara currently works on the delivery of the Household Support Fund, The Big Lincolnshire Welcome Fund and manages the Thonock Aspiration Fund for Schools (TAFS).

Aaron Bailey

Data Researcher & Grantmaker

Office: 01529 305825

Cavan Collins

Grantmaker

Office: 01529 305825

Following his time at Cardiff University learning about people and places across the world as part of his Human Geography degree, Cavan came back to Lincolnshire and joined the Foundation on a part-time basis in July 2022 to support community organisations and individuals within Greater Lincolnshire. Helping colleagues in an administrative capacity to distribute grant funding at first, he has since grown to become a full-time member of Lincolnshire Community Foundation’s Grants Team and is a familiar face to applicants throughout the application process across a number of schemes he has worked on including the UKSPF GRASSroots Grant Scheme, Household Support Fund and both the Birchwood and CCC Big Local. He also leads on various programmes including the Michael Cornish Core Grants Programme and the ELIF GRASSroots Grant Scheme.

Hayley Crawford

Grantmaker

Office: 01529 305825

Mobile: 07939 563296

Hayley joined the Foundation in April 2022, initially serving in an administrative capacity and as a Finance Officer, before transitioning to her current role as a Grantmaker. She has worked on a number of funds within the Foundation including Rural England Prosperity Fund, North Kesteven Lottery Grant Scheme and Evan Cornish Grassroots Fund, empowering community groups across Greater Lincolnshire to access vital funding for transformative local initiatives. With a background in the legal and private healthcare sectors, Hayley brings a unique perspective and a commitment to fostering vibrant, inclusive communities.

Having returned to the U.K. from South Africa in 2021, she is passionate about reconnecting with her roots and advancing the Foundations mission to help Lincolnshire thrive.

Katie Littlewood

Grantmaker

Office: 01529 305825

Mobile: 07375 676593

Prior to joining the Foundation in 2020, for 20yrs. Katie worked in Early Years Education supporting children and families locally. Katie has in the past played an active role in the community giving her time to run a local Brownie pack and sit on other committees such as The village Feast & the local village hall. Katie now has a young family and spends her much of her free time in the great outdoors and occasionally helping at her children’s Beaver & Scout groups. At the Foundation, Katie manages 7 Funds including the Horncastle Health & Wellbeing, and the 6 renewable Funds LCF manage stretching across Greater Lincolnshire.

Helen Cater

Grantmaker

Office: 01529 305825

Mobile: 07591 916305

Helen has been with the Lincolnshire Community Foundation since January 2018. Before joining the foundation, Helen’s background has been in project and grant scheme management and uses this experience to help administer the Community Foundation’s grant programmes which enables the Foundation to make a bigger impact in the community.

Claire Edwards

Marketing, Comms & Grantmaker

Office: 01529 305825

Mobile: 07534 693652

Claire joined the Foundation in 2021. Growing up in North East Lincolnshire, she travelled across the country as an RAF spouse, before coming back home to Lincolnshire.

Her deep connection to the people and locations in the county drives her passion. With a background in various sectors including voluntary, legal, and business, she takes pleasure in supporting all community members.

Claire actively volunteers, serving as a community responder and as Chair of a local primary school PTA.

Claire currently works on the SWEF and Household Support Fund.

Helen Kearseley - Cree

Enterprise Lead

Office: 01529 305825

Mobile: 07795 093682

Helen started working in the VCSE sector in 1994 on an employment and skills project for (ex)offenders, which linked to her Masters in Criminology background. She then moved into community development work, still on the community safety theme, developing that project into wider social regeneration. She has been the CEO of three different charities, two of which are defined as VCSE Local Infrastructure and the third was a Rural Community Council.

After taking a short break from the sector, she became a qualified secondary school teacher and is currently using these skills in the employer supported volunteering work she currently undertakes in schools on careers. The GLAP (Gainsborough Local Access Programme) she manages is a national pilot, funded by Access and Big Society Capital to ‘test’ how place based enterprise development alongside local access to social investment can positively impact a defined area.

Sue Fortune

CEO

Office: 01529 305825

Mobile: 07908 208838

Sue has been with the Foundation since its inception in 2002, following a successful legal career in Durham, London and within a Local Authority. Before being appointed CEO in 2019, she spent 16 years at LCF as a Grantmaker delivering millions of pounds in grant aid to community organisations and individuals across Lincolnshire, always championing the smaller, locally led groups and organisations. Throughout this time, she managed a huge range of schemes, from micro grants to million pound place based (community led) programmes. 

er work helped build long-lasting relationships and embed the Foundation’s reputation as a trusted, approachable funder and partner. Before moving to Lincolnshire, she raised funds to support a local dog rescue charity and went on to adopt three herself. After settling in a small Lincolnshire village, she continued her fundraising efforts bringing local groups together as part of an annual fundraiser, fuelling her ambition to support communities and help others in the longer term. More recently, has discovered a penchant for travel and will regale and entertain others with her stories and adventures.

Helen Kearseley - Cree

Enterprise Lead

Office: 01529 305825

Mobile: 07795 093682

Helen started working in the VCSE sector in 1994 on an employment and skills project for (ex)offenders, which linked to her Masters in Criminology background. She then moved into community development work, still on the community safety theme, developing that project into wider social regeneration. She has been the CEO of three different charities, two of which are defined as VCSE Local Infrastructure and the third was a Rural Community Council. After taking a short break from the sector, she became a qualified secondary school teacher and is currently using these skills in the employer supported volunteering work she currently undertakes in schools on careers. The GLAP (Gainsborough Local Access Programme) she manages is a national pilot, funded by Access and Big Society Capital to ‘test’ how place based enterprise development alongside local access to social investment can positively impact a defined area.