See below for what the Foundation is doing to help build "Big Society" in Buckinghamshire
News
The countdown begins to Go Green For Bucks Day
To celebrate and support local community projects in all parts of Buckinghamshire, everyone in the county is invited to do something involving the colour 'green' on Friday June 15th. In return, participants are asked to donate £1 to the Community Foundation's Diamond Jubilee Fund with the aim of raising enough money to make 60 extra grants of £1,000 to support local Buckinghamshire community projects during the Diamond Jubilee Year.
It could be that college students and schoolchildren wear something green or people at work write in
green ink or dye their hair green. Or restaurants, pubs and hotels could encourage visitors to eat or drink something green. Or people could just go for a walk in Buckinghamshire's beautiful green countryside.
Buckinghamshire has twice as many charities per head of population than the national average, many
of them are very small groups run entirely by volunteers. However, research conducted last autumn by the Community Foundation showed that only 36% of all charitable giving by Buckinghamshire residents actually goes to local charities, the majority goes to support national and international causes.
The aim of the Community Foundation is to help everyone in Buckinghamshire to 'Think Local
Give Local' so increasing the figure of 36%. Since the year 2000, thanks to the support of its local private and business donors the Community Foundation has provided grants and, through the recently launched Bucks Big Society Bank, loans totalling over £3.5 million to more than 1,500 local Buckinghamshire community projects.
Friday 15th June has been chosen as the date for this event because it coincides with the national Small Charity Week.
"Everyone says how important community life is in the county so this is a great chance to do something positive and fun to support our local community groups in Diamond Jubilee year" says Richard Dickson, Director of Buckinghamshire Community Foundation. "This is the first ever 'Go Green For Bucks' day so we're hoping as many people, schools, businesses and other bodies will get behind this initiative."
Posters and flyers for the event are available from the Community Foundation by 'phoning 01296
330134, email info@buckscf.org.uk or by visiting www.buckscf.org.uk. All participants who do something involving the colour green on Friday June 15th will also receive their own 'I've gone green for Bucks!' sticker. Text donations are also possible by texting GGFB12 £1 to 70070.
