Bedfordshire & Luton Community Foundation

Who we are

BLCF is the leading local grantmaker in Bedfordshire and Luton. We are passionate about improving the lives of people in the county through investing support in local charities and forging deep relationships with grassroots groups in our area.

Our culture and values

Our mission is to make a lasting difference in Bedfordshire by being a catalyst for positive social change in the county through connecting people, ideas, and resources to needs. To do this, we have eight key values:
 

1. Ready to challenge: Enabling us to excel, our partners to have impact, our communities to work together and for all to help shift the balance of power through the value of our data, insight, and knowledge.
    
2. Deliver lasting change: We use influence to make change happen that is long lasting and impactful for our community partners and individuals. 
    
3. Embrace risk taking: We have an appetite to take calculated risks to ensure our own, and the charity sector’s, sustainability and to help us grow, and explore new opportunities. 
    
4. Always accountable: We are trusted by our partners, our funders and the people of Bedfordshire. We understand the needs of the communities and build that knowledge through relationships, fairness, equality, and transparency.
    
5. Locally focused: We value our local ‘place based’ knowledge and expertise gained through our connections and networks ensuring our wider geographic reach.
    
6. Ever curious: To grow our understanding of local need through our collective curiosity and strive to always understand and be informed of the ever-changing needs we aim to address.
    
7. Highly skilled: We are skilled in the work we do through our quality standards, reputation, experience, and professional development.
    
8. Reflect and represent: The communities we serve by including their lived experience in the make-up of our staff team, volunteers, panel members, and Trustees.

Equality, diversity and inclusion policy

At the heart of everything we do is the people and communities of Bedfordshire. We listen, learn and respond to local needs, ensuring our approach represents our communities and supports our local people. In action this looks like:
 

1. We listen to key partners to stay informed and challenge, network with marginalised groups, and seek stakeholder feedback.
    
2. We learn by consulting on grant accessibility and process, reviewing programmes and funding streams to address inequality, sharing data and EDI performance indicators, and sharing stakeholder voices.
    
3. We adapt by building fairness and equality into all our partnerships and processes, and seeking representation of voices from the communities we serve, and in terms of decision making and governance.
    
4. We change by offering support to marginalised groups, and utilising partners and network to reach more diverse and under represented groups.
    

BLCF is also proud to be an Associate Member of BAOBAB Foundation, a member of The Funders for Racial Equality Alliance (FREA), and a Living Wage Employer. These memberships keep us accountable and committed to ensuring we are addressing inequalities within our work.