A Shared Approach to Local Decision Making
How the Norfolk Offshore Wind Farms Community Panel keeps communities in the driving seat.
At Norfolk Community Foundation, our work always starts in the same place: listening to communities and trusting local people to understand what matters most where they live. This approach is central to how we support local action across the county, and it is why we are working with RWE to deliver the Norfolk Offshore Wind Farms Community Fund.
Like the Foundation, RWE recognised that community funding works best when it is shaped by the people closest to the places it is designed to support. Working together, we turned insight into a fund that reflects real-life needs in Norfolk and places local voices at the centre of decision-making.
How the Foundation helps
For RWE, partnering with the Foundation means working with an organisation that already has deep roots in Norfolk and a proven track record of supporting community‑led change. Claire Mackintosh MBE DL, CEO of Norfolk Community Foundation, said that, “RWE were very open about wanting to work with grant makers in the Norfolk area, and Norfolk Community Foundation were very excited about the opportunity… The very first thing we did was to assemble a panel of local people in different communities.”
The community panel plays a key role in the fund. Bringing together people from different backgrounds and parts of the county, panel members bring lived experience and a deep understanding of their local communities. As panel member Dan explains, “Local people know their needs, they know the opportunities as well. The people who know about any area are the people who live there and work there.” Their involvement ensures funding reaches projects rooted in local need and ready to grow.
Ensuring a transparent process
The Foundation’s role is to steward the fund responsibly and support the panel to make confident, informed decisions. As Community Panel member Rex reflects, “When someone applies, they apply through the Norfolk Community Foundation and they’re absolutely brilliant. We can identify the strengths and weaknesses of the different applications. All of the projects which come in are worthwhile and it’s brilliant to connect funding with really good local causes.”
The Foundation provides a clear and fair process for community groups, allowing panel members to focus on identifying the strengths of individual projects and come to decisions together. It ensures funding has the greatest possible impact while keeping communities in the driving seat.
The Panel in action
The Norfolk Offshore Wind Farms Community Fund reflects a way of working that is already embedded in the Foundation: listen first, trust communities and steward funding so it supports lasting local action. You can hear directly from RWE, Foundation staff and community panel members in the short film below, which captures how this partnership works in practice and why local leadership matters.
If you would like to learn more about the fund, apply for support or explore partnership opportunities, please get in touch.
