Suffolk-based housing developer Hopkins Homes today launched a new £250,000 endowment fund to support good causes across the county.

The “Building Communities” fund will offer two rounds of grant funding per year, with grants to individual organisations ranging in value from £500 to £5,000.

It has been set up to complement Hopkins Homes’ housebuilding programme by supporting organisations and activities that help bring communities together and support the most vulnerable.

The endowment has been established with support from Transforming Suffolk Investment Fund. Key themes to be supported through the ednowment include homelessness and displacement, deprivation and vulnerable people.

Suffolk Community Foundation will be administering the first round of grants in January 2016 and will be contacting charities and community groups across the county in advance to encourage bids.

James Hopkins, executive chairman of Hopkins Homes, said “Hopkins Homes is committed to building high-quality houses to meet a clear need for homes for local people.

“We have also always been committed to playing our part in building communities. One way in which we do that is by supporting good causes that help the most disadvantaged in society.

“I am very pleased that we have been able to create a substantial endowment fund that guarantees support to these causes every year.”

Stephen Singleton, chief executive of Suffolk Community Foundation, added: “James Hopkins and his team at Hopkins Homes were one of the first corporate supporters of Suffolk Community Foundation’s work almost a decade ago. They remain prepared to step forward and support solutions for some of the toughest social challenges we face here in Suffolk.

“By creating this new sustainable endowment fund, they have once again deepened their commitment to the social cohesion and wellbeing of those most in need in Suffolk.”

Grants awarded from Hopkins Homes via the foundation since 2007 have supported a range of causes including those aimed at young people, the unemployed, women’s aid and those needing support from a food bank. Some of these include:

: : £1,800 to YMCA Suffolk to run a homework club in the Kirkley area;

: : £1,000 to Town Pastors Lowestoft, for the care of young people on the streets;

: : £3,000 to Anglia CareTrust, to mentor young people with a history of antisocial behaviour and other offences;

: : £3,000 to support Waveney Domestic Violence and Abuse Forum;

: : £3,000 towards the running costs of Ipswich Winter Night Shelter;

: : £2,000 to Signpost Gunton to help equip a new food bank for Lowestoft;

: : £2,000 for Ipswich Housing Action Group with an aim to reduce rough sleeping;

: :£2,300 to support a youth worker for social clubs, under Young People Taking Action; and

: :£2,000 to St John’s Housing Trust to fund a 12-week “entry to employment” course for the long-term unemployed.

Details of how to apply for grants from the new Building Communities endowment fund can be found on the Hopkins Homes website at www.hopkinshomes.co.uk/building-communities-fund or by contacting the Suffolk Community Foundatoin, by calling 01473 602602 or by email to info@suffolkcf.org.uk.