Principality creates £100,000 fund to support young people in Wales

Principality Building Society has committed £100,000 to support charities and community organisations to help young people across Wales.

The largest building society in Wales has partnered with Community Foundation Wales (CFW) to supply grants of up to £5,000 each for projects for a Future Generations Fund that will encourage young people to prepare skills for their future world of work, personal finances, finding employment, and living more sustainable lives.

Established in 1999, Community Foundation Wales awards grants of over £2.6 million each year to charities and community groups to strengthen communities across Wales.

Vicky Wales, Chief Customer Officer at Principality, said:

“Principality has made a long-term commitment to help educate young people about finance to help prepare them for the future for almost a decade but this is the start of one of the biggest social ventures we have ever undertaken as a business.

“Thousands of households in Wales are considered to be living in relative poverty and with the support of CFW we want to reach the most vulnerable groups to develop their training skills to make them more employable, support their mental health and well-being, improve their financial understanding to be able to budget to have a more secure future, and build environmental, social and conservation awareness. Our view is that leading businesses in Wales such as ourselves should take the lead to help create a much fairer and co-operative society. It is impossible to do this alone and that is why we are proud that we will be able to collaborate with lots of community groups across the country who are doing such great work to help young people who need it most.”

Richard Williams, Chief Executive of Community Foundation Wales, said:

“We are delighted to be partnering with Principality, an organisation that shares our values and passion for strengthening communities in Wales.

Community Foundation Wales has been in Wales for more than 20 years, building philanthropic support for communities and grass roots groups. In that time, working with individual donors and businesses, we have been able to invest more than £30m into local Welsh communities.

This new fund will provide much-needed support for community groups and charities to make an even bigger difference to lives across Wales.”