Why Shropshire Businesses Choose to Give Locally with SCF
Shropshire businesses are part of the communities around them. Their staff live here, their customers are here, and many of the suppliers they work with are local too. So when a business wants to give something back, it makes sense to start close to home.
The tricky part is knowing where that support will make the biggest difference.
That is where Shropshire Community Foundation (SCF) comes in. Through SCF and the Shropshire Investors in Community (SIIC) network, businesses can tap into local knowledge, practical grant-making support and connections with grassroots organisations across Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin. It means less time navigating the process and more confidence that their support is going where it is needed.
Turning business generosity into focused local impact
For many SIIC members, the motivation to help was never the issue. What SCF adds is focus. A business can say what matters to its people and what it hopes to achieve, and SCF can help turn that into a clear approach to local giving.
That was the experience of DENSO UK Manufacturing. The company already wanted to invest in its community, but SCF helped give that commitment a clearer direction.
DENSO JCE fund recipient – The Cavalier Centre
“We’d always wanted to support the community, but while the passion was there, the structure wasn’t. The Foundation helped us create that structure and make our giving more meaningful.”
At DENSO, conversations with employees pointed clearly to young people as a priority. That gave the company’s giving a focus that felt relevant to its workforce as well as useful to the wider community.
SCF also handles the practical side that can make business giving feel daunting: due diligence, governance and understanding where funding is most needed.
As Shaun Carvill of Clickingmad explained:
“The Foundation takes care of all of that, making it much easier for businesses to get involved.”
Pave Aways had a similar experience when it set up its £15,000 community fund. SCF managed the applications and due diligence, so the business could feel confident that its funding was reaching local organisations with the potential to make a meaningful difference.
Seeing what your support does, close to home
One of the best things about giving locally is that the impact is not abstract. Businesses can meet the organisations, hear the stories and see what changes because of their support.
Through its fund, Pave Aways supported Read Easy, helping adults struggling with literacy build confidence and independence. After seeing the difference that support could make, the business increased its funding from four learners to seven.
“When you hear those stories first-hand, you realise the ripple effect. Supporting one person can positively affect an entire family and help remove barriers that have existed for years.”
That is the kind of connection SCF helps make possible. Across Shropshire there are grassroots groups doing remarkable work, often without the profile that would put them on a business’s radar. SCF knows the local landscape and can help bring those organisations together with businesses that want to help.
Ambassador, Ged Kennedy, visiting Read Easy Telford & Shropshire East alongside Vicky Lawson from Pave Aways
More Shropshire businesses, more local impact
SCF’s Annual Dinner brought that point to life. One business can do a lot. A group of businesses pulling in the same direction can do much more.
Since SCF was established in 2022, it has supported 148+ projects reaching more than 22,000 people across Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin (as of June 2026). Those projects have tackled issues including loneliness, mental health, crime prevention and support for young people.
The £20,000 Acorn Fund is a good example. It was created entirely through donations from SIIC members. By pooling their contributions, those businesses created a pot of funding that could support more local work than many of them could have managed alone.
That shared approach is a big part of SIIC. Businesses can contribute, learn from one another and see their support become part of something bigger in Shropshire.
SIIC Grant Scheme 2026
Launched on Friday 14th August 2026, the new SIIC Grant Scheme 2026 is another example of that approach in action. Funded by Shropshire Investors in Community, the £20,000 flow-through fund will support young people who are not in employment, education or training (NEET).
The scheme will award grants of between £1,000 and £5,000 to voluntary and community organisations working across Shropshire, including Telford & Wrekin.
Applications will be open until 25th September 2026, with organisations notified of the outcome in late October.
Find out more here
“SIIC allows us to come together and create a much bigger impact than any of us could achieve individually.”
– Nick Jones, Throgmorton Associates
Keeping more investment in Shropshire
There is something powerful about keeping giving close to home. Supporting grassroots organisations, local people and community projects does more than fund individual pieces of work – it helps strengthen the county and the local economy around them.
Pave Aways is now taking that idea a step further by encouraging its own supply chain and subcontractors to get involved:
“If more local businesses invest in local communities, we can keep more money circulating within Shropshire, support more people and strengthen the county as a whole.”
The need, however, is still greater than the funding available. Demand for SCF grants continues to exceed what can currently be awarded, which is why we’re working on both sides of the equation: increasing the money available for communities today while building endowment funds that can support Shropshire for generations to come. More than £700,000 has already been secured in endowed funds.
For businesses, SIIC offers a practical way to be part of that bigger Shropshire story. SCF brings the local knowledge, grant-making expertise and infrastructure; businesses bring their resources, ideas and commitment to the county.
Put those things together, and local giving becomes more than a one-off donation. It becomes part of a stronger, more connected future for Shropshire and the communities within it.
Connecting people who care with causes that matter.
