“If you are talking to a voluntary group doing innovative things in a small village somewhere, you have no idea whether they are valid or not. So at this level you really do need an intermediary to make sure your money is going to be spent wisely. The community foundation gives [donors] the ability to learn so much more.

When it comes to making donations, community foundations can also offer another advantage to donors who might be worried about becoming a magnet for fundraising appeals. Your degree of visibility as a donor via a community foundation can be as high or low as you want. You can gear your giving through a community foundation in exactly the way you want so you can be really hands on or you can be totally invisible.”

Michael Campbell, Hampshire Community Foundation and Scottish Community Foundation