Persimmon Homes, which has donated more than £300,000 to groups supporting people over 70 during the pandemic, is re-opening its charity fund to all groups.

Community Champions launched in 2015 with a view to helping a wide range of community causes such as village halls, sports clubs, friendship groups and foodbanks across England, Scotland and Wales. Each of the 3i business regions together Plc head office has two donations of up to £1,000 available locally every month. However, as the nation began to feel the effect of the Covid-19 outbreak, the housebuilder refocused its efforts and supported elderly communities in most need of support.

The change came into effect in April and since then more than 4,000 applications have been received and Persimmon Homes has donated £320,000 to 320 causes. Groups that have benefited in include Knodisall Village Hall, which is pivotal to the social life of this Suffolk village, especially for older people who enjoy regular bowls, bingo, yoga and keep fit sessions; Tenovus Cancer Care in Wales and Dunbar Dementia Network in East Lothian, a group providing support to those caring for others who are living with dementia or related conditions.

Steve Roche, Group Communications and Customer Relationship Director for Persimmon Homes, said: “The effects of Covid-19 have been far reaching and all our communities have been affected, but a great deal of good has come out of adversity. It has been heart-warming to see how people have united and rallied together to help the most vulnerable people in our society, whether it has been providing practical help with shopping and prescriptions, to transport or emotional support and providing a friendly face at what has been a very lonely time. We are proud to have been able to lend our support to the over 70s by targeting our donations, but we feel the time is now right to open our Community Champions fund to all walks of life again.”

The Community Champions initiative sees £64,000 donated nationally every month. Since it was launched in 2015, the Community Champions scheme has donated more than £3m to approximately 3,500 groups. Steve added: ““We have always believed in supporting the communities where we build, especially grassroot activities, and we look forward to seeing thousands more applications from a wide cross section of groups.”