Exeter’s professional rugby and football clubs have joined together with the city’s property community to create a history-making £150,000 charitable fund.
The money for the Exeter Legacy Project has been donated through a collaboration between The Exeter Chiefs Foundation, Exeter City Community Trust and The Exeter Property Summer Ball
Grants are available for a single project to a total of £150,000. All three organisations are contributing up to £50,000 each to the initiative, which will provide the funding to a selected charity or to an established community cause.
Exeter Legacy Project grant applications are being accepted now. Organisations applying must be located in the greater Exeter area and the project must enhance and improve the lives of the local community.
Any grants must be used to fund tangible purchases or works that will have longevity and not, for example, pay for staff or volunteers’ time or training.
Organisations submitting applications must also satisfy at least one of the following criteria:
- Contribute to the relief of poverty
- Help the advancement of education
- Take care of the elderly, sick or infirm
- Support disadvantaged, individuals, children and families
- Promote physical, intellectual, social and spiritual well-being
The Exeter Chiefs Foundation, which is the Exeter Chiefs rugby club’s charity, has raised more than £2m since being launched in 2011.
Chairman Tony Rowe OBE said: “Our collaboration with the Property Ball a few years ago was hugely successful and the money improved the lives of hundreds of local people.
“With Exeter City coming on board this year, we are able to offer significantly more to a major project or a number of smaller ones.
“We are all in the business of helping those less fortunate than ourselves and so it makes sense for us to pool our expertise and cash.”
Exeter City Community Trust is the partner charity of Exeter City Football Club.
Julian Tagg, chair of Exeter City Community Trust and president and director of football and external affairs at Exeter City FC, said: “Both professional clubs recognise the opportunity to support the wider community. We take that responsibility extremely seriously and this is an opportunity to create an incredible legacy for both of our clubs, alongside the Exeter Property Ball.
“To come together on a project like this feels like the right thing for the people living in our city who may be facing challenges or hardship in their lives. As a supporter-owned club and a charity which delivers directly in the heart of our community, we are passionate about making a difference and improving the lives of those who need us the most.”
The Exeter Property Ball was launched in 2002 by five local professionals working in the property market - Damian Cook, Scott Rossiter, Steve James, David Kirk and Tim Heal who wanted to organise a fun night for the business community to celebrate in style. It has since raised more than £450,000, supporting a variety of local and regional charities.
A spokesman for the Exeter Property Ball Committee said: “In 2018 we joined forces with the Exeter Chiefs Foundation to create our first legacy project grant of £100,000 and were delighted to award it to Hospiscare to meet the cost of redecorating their patient areas at Searle House in Exeter.
“We are excited once again to be joining not only with the Chiefs charity, but also Exeter City’s partner charity to provide this substantial pot of money.”
To request a form and for more information, email Aimee Arscott at legacy@exeterchiefsfoundation.org.uk.
You can also download a form here