Preventative Power: Partnering with Health

Community foundations are helping the NHS to make sure that people and grassroots charities receive the services and resources they need.

The Government has announced a 10-year health plan, and a new Neighbourhood Health Service. This has been billed as a once in a generation opportunity to re-think the way in which we approach health and wellbeing.

Action will be needed at scale to deliver the aspirations of the Government’s new 10-year health plan, and longer-term solutions will need to be led by communities. Community foundations can make sure that people and grassroots charities receive the services and resources they need, when and where it is needed most. This new report shows that we can also build capacity in communities, share learning and scale game changing ideas to improve health and wellbeing across the UK.

Norfolk Community Foundation is already doing great work to improve health and wellbeing in our area, and we would like to share with you some case studies that demonstrate impact from around the rest of the country too.

How we’re working with the NHS…

Community Voices

Working in partnership with Norfolk and Waveney ICB, Norfolk Community Foundation funded a network of trusted community organisations in Great Yarmouth and Norwich to have vital conversations with children, young people and their families about asthma. These areas experience some of the highest levels of deprivation and poor health outcomes.

Local VCSE groups—ranging from food hubs to sports clubs—received training to talk confidently about asthma, signpost people to support, and gather real-time insights for the NHS. Over 229 individuals took part. The results were striking: 30% were guided to information on asthma care, 21.3% to training, and 40% to wider health and housing services.

More than a referral scheme, this work built trust, increased self-care confidence, and created a feedback loop with the ICB—helping to shape future strategy. It also demonstrated that community groups can be powerful delivery partners for preventative health, building the NHS’s reach into places it often struggles to access directly.

Healthy Young Minds

To address rising mental health needs among children and young people, Norfolk Community Foundation partnered with Norfolk and Waveney ICB to launch the Healthy Young Minds Fund. With over £240,000 awarded across 16 projects, the fund supported VCSE organisations to provide targeted mental health interventions—from nature-based recovery programmes to 1:1 therapeutic support.

Many of the young people helped faced multiple barriers to accessing care—including those who are LGBT+, neurodiverse, or from refugee backgrounds. The community-based setting allowed early intervention in ways that were responsive, stigma-free, and culturally sensitive.

Projects reported strong outcomes using validated tools like WEMWBS and RCADS, while also feeding learning back into wider system strategy. The Foundation’s deep local networks enabled rapid rollout and strong engagement. These insights are now shaping further work—including new initiatives developed with other health funders.

This partnership not only extended NHS capacity, but demonstrated how community foundations can innovate, target resources effectively, and help the health system reach those most at risk of being left behind.