About the Foundation
We have been standing side by side with small and local charities for nearly 40 years.
Ripon Community Link
We’re an independent charitable foundation funded by Lloyds Banking Group. We work in partnership with small and local charities, people and communities, changing lives and working towards a more just and compassionate society.
The needs and aspirations of people drive our work. We strengthen the small and local charities that support them and the communities they live in, and advocate for a better future.
Through unrestricted funding, support to develop, and influencing policy and practice we help small and local charities thrive, communities grow stronger, and people overcome complex issues and barriers so they can transform their lives.
Fundamentally, we believe we have a responsibility to help build a society where everyone, whatever their gender, ethnicity, nationality, religious belief, sexuality, disability, age, class or educational background can thrive. But we cannot do this alone. We recognise that to truly make a difference towards making society more just and compassionate we need to be bolder, louder and more ambitious. We have a long way to go, but together, we can build a better future.
Latin American Women’s Rights Service
“Thanks to support and funding from the Foundation, we hired our first policy role, and we were able to collect evidence that two thirds of abuse survivors with insecure immigration status felt the police wouldn’t believe them because of their legal status, and more than half were threatened with deportation by their attackers if they went to the police.
“With the additional grant and our campaigning, evidence and persistence, we improved migrant women’s protections – by raising awareness and securing cross party support for amendments to the Domestic Abuse Bill, resulting in two compromise amendments by the government. In 2022, the Justice Committee called for a firewall between reporting abuse and immigration control in the Victims’ Bill, and the London Mayor’s Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy 2022–25 commits to lobbying for this firewall.”
Gisela Valle, Director, Latin American Women’s Rights Service (LAWRS) a charity based in London. They received a £52,250 unrestricted grant, and a £113,605 three-year grant to influence national policy.
Our vision, mission and values
is of a just and compassionate society where people facing complex issues and barriers have the opportunity to thrive.
Our Vision
Our Mission
is to partner with small and local charities, people and communities working towards a more just and compassionate society.
Our values
We are passionate
We’re passionate about the work of small and local charities and communities working towards a better society where people are supported and can thrive.
We are inclusive
We support each other and partners, and together build a space where everyone is embraced, trusted and valued so they can be themselves and fulfil their potential.
We are rooted
We listen and learn from others to understand the challenges people, charities and communities face and commit to act on evidence and knowledge to make lasting change happen.
We are ambitious
We’re not afraid to innovate, take risks, and push for change to break down the barriers people face, strengthen charities, foster more connected communities and a more just society.
Mojatu Foundation
“I joined the Foundation in 2022 and have learned a lot about our mission. From the start I was impressed how we work with the charities that work with the people that need it most. And how we work collaboratively as a progressive funder, supporting small charities with funding but also vital development support. We’re not afraid to challenge ourselves and I’ve seen, and been involved in, a number of positive changes in how we operate and communicate. Always learning and improving – it’s a good culture!”
Horacio Herrera-Richmond
Brand and Design Officer
Our impact
In 2023 we continued to support charities, people and communities. Through our programmes we reached right across England and Wales awarding a total of £19.6m.
Our five year commitment
Our focus will be on where we can collectively make the greatest change happen from the impact of our funding, support and resources, to the difference charities make to people’s lives.
Collaboration will underpin everything we do. We’ll help create more spaces and opportunities for charities to work together, build impactful partnerships and wider networks to help them achieve their goals, influence systems, practice and policy and improve people’s lives.
We’ll continue to work hard to improve ourselves. We’ll ensure we keep listening and learning, challenging ourselves. We’ll ensure diversity, equity and inclusion is central to our work.
Justlife
Doorway Project
1
We’ll support small and local charities making a life changing difference to people’s lives.
2
We will support charities and their partners to collaborate so they can strengthen communities and shape policies, structures and society.
3
We will influence practice and policy locally, regionally and nationally to tackle the causes and consequences of complex issues and the barriers people face.
4
We will work effectively and efficiently to maximise our impact, sharing resources, opportunity and power.
Equity, diversity and inclusion
Ripon Community Link
We are committed to addressing our own diversity, equity and inclusion in our make up as an organisation, our approach and the work that
we do. We recognise that as a charitable foundation we hold a lot of power and privilege, and we will ensure that we use our power and voice to be a real ally.
We have already made significant changes: bringing lived experience to our Board, signing up to becoming a Disability Confident employer,
and by working with communities facing racial inequity and d/Deaf and Disabled communities to design, assess and make decisions on our funding. There is much more to do but our commitment is absolute.
The difference we hope to make
Included people
We will develop and share the most effective service models for people facing complex issues, People who have faced inequity because of their race or ethnicity, and d/Deaf and Disabled people.
Resilient charities
We will maximise the resilience of small and local charities through a combination of funding and development support.
Thriving communities
We will support communities to collaborate and tackle their most entrenched and pressing issues.
A just and compassionate society
We will share our learning with other sectors and places and influence national policy for the benefit of small charities and the communities they serve.
Senior leadership
Our Senior Leadership Team are the caretakers of our organisation’s values and aspirations.
This small and dedicated group play a vital role in overseeing the work of over 50 team-members as well as providing strategic and financial oversight. Each member of the group has specific responsibilities pertaining to development, engagement, our grant making and the health and resilience of the Foundation.
Meet our senior leadership team
Matt Hyde OBE
Chief Executive
James Phillips
Chief Operating Officer
André Clarke
Director of Charity Development
Jill Baker
Director of Communities
Famida Chandegra
Executive Assistant to Chief Executive