Bedfordshire and Luton Community Foundation

Who we are

Bedfordshire and Luton Community Foundation (BLCF) is the leading local grantmaker in the county. We are passionate about improving the lives of people in Bedfordshire and Luton and we are known for our ground-breaking initiatives, for our investment in supporting local charities and for our deep relationships with grassroots groups in our area.

Our culture and values

BLCF’s vision is to ensure Local Focus. Lasting Change across the county whilst playing our part in a global context by aligning our work to UN Sustainable Development Goals. We deliver our work in the strategic context of our partners, funders, and stakeholders. Through a clearly mapped delivery plan, we ensure we align, deliver, and have impact, adding to the landscape of support and not duplicating, and measuring that work through clear agreed deliverables and targets

Equality, diversity and inclusion policy

BLCF is committed to transforming the way we distribute funding to ensure it is equitable, transparent and representative.

We believe it is imperative for philanthropy to become more equitable, diverse and inclusive in its practices for three main reasons:

1. Advance the common good. Those of us in philanthropy have dedicated ourselves to promoting the common good. Advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in our organisations and grantmaking helps us live up to our values.

2. Increase effectiveness. Diverse perspectives within foundations can help build better relationships with grantees, improve team problem-solving, and lead to better outcomes.

3. Enhance impact. The communities we serve, our partners in business and government, are becoming increasingly diverse. We need to understand and reflect this rich variety of perspectives in order to achieve greater impact.