An interview with Nigel Atkinson

Whilst Emma Gilbey was an intern at CCF, she interviewed Nigel Atkinson about his involvement with CCF.

I understand you’ve been a trustee at Cambridgeshire Community Foundation from the beginning, how did you become involved?
My brother-in-law Gerald Coteman was involved in setting the Foundation up. And it was around the time that I was taking early retirement and was looking for projects in which to get involved. I went to the Foundation launch event at Downing College and it appeared that my personal views were in line with the values of the Community Foundation movement.

How have you seen the Foundation grow and change since it began?
The role it’s come to play in the community has become more important and the Foundation has developed and formed numerous links to the local community.

What issues in the community are you particularly interested in?
One area of concern for me is homelessness which the Foundation tries to support under the grant programme, Adults facing a Life Crisis. I am also pleased that the Foundation has been able to offer help to many groups working with those in another programme Children, young people and families. I was initially unsure about the impact we could have through supporting environmental projects but, after seeing the work that grants to such groups has produced, I reassessed my views and am now very supportive.  What I now realise is that, despite  growing up in Cambridge and thinking I knew the City well, there are many issues I was unaware of or knew little about and CCF has widened my views.

Are there any projects which have left a big impression on you?
One I’ve been closely involved with and had a lot of contact with and seen their day-to-day work is the Peterborough Rape Crisis Centre which received a CCF grant to buy a laptop. The laptop helps their day-to-day running but also allows the manager to respond to victims who contact the centre faster than she was previously able to.  This means the support and counselling offered to a victim can get started earlier.

I’m also involved with impact assessment and the follow up of grants which organisations receive. I attended the AGM of The Orton Young People’s Counselling project which CCF had funded. At the meeting, the organisers explained the work they do to try to address some of the problems the area faces. One area that was highlighted was the concern that many of the local teenagers have little interest in education and there are high levels of anti-social behaviour in the area. I experienced some of this anti-social behaviour first hand; when I left the AGM a group of local teenagers shouted verbal abuse at me so the need for the valuable work of The Orton Young Peoples Counselling project was reinforced.

Another grant to a bowls club allowed the group to buy a wheelchair adapted for use on the bowls green by disabled members. This enabled current players, who would otherwise have to stop playing bowls to continue, and also opened the club to all wheelchair-bound disabled people.

Grants such as this can transform people’s lives, because they enable elderly people to continue to socialise with friends and other players to enjoy a hobby, when decreasing mobility may have prevented them.

Through your research on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) are there any particular benefits for businesses which are involved in CCF?
There are certainly many benefits but the main one I believe is reputation. Companies that have active CSR programmes have much to say about their positive role in the community in, for example, their annual report and can use the work to generate publicity and press coverage.

Also, surveys show that staff value their employer more if the employer has a reputation for being supportive of the community.  This is good for staff satisfaction and retention.  Recruitment can also be improved if potential recruits hear good things about an employer as they are more likely to want to work for them.

CSR is an area I am particularly interested in. I completed my Masters dissertation on it and am looking into funding to be able to complete a PhD specifically looking at the publishing industry and their involvement in CSR through my experience at Cambridge University Press, who are very supportive of my work with the CCF.

How do you feel that your work with Cambridgeshire Prohelp compliments the work of the Cambridgeshire Community Foundation?
The Foundation worked with Pro Help before I became involved in Pro Help so the Foundation knows how Pro Help can assist local charities with the issues they need help with.

We are talking about setting up an informal referral system such that groups that approach CCF for grant funding may also identify help they need with other projects that Pro Help can support.

My involvement in each gives me a better understanding of the community’s needs. When I’m working with people involved with Cambridgeshire Prohelp I mention that I’m also involved with the CCF and tell them what the Foundation is about to see if it is something which they might also be interested in.

And finally, what do you hope the CCF will be doing in 10 years time?
Well, I hope the Foundation will be bigger and have a higher profile in the community which is part the building of a building a stronger reputation. It’s easy to get frustrated by how small we are compared to some of the older well-established Community Foundations around the country.  We’re still relatively young but we continue to grow both in terms of the funds we manage but also, hopefully, in terms of the positive impact we have in the local community.

Back to List of Trustees