Sustaining Community at Oxford City Farm

Aim

We want to grow and sustain our regular volunteering offer and have ambitious community inspired plans for the kitchen, site & animals

We want to do more - better!

The need for what we do at Oxford City Farm has only increased with the Covid19 Pandemic, which continues to highlight devastating health inequalities across not only Oxford but the country as a whole. Covid19  has also exacerbated a secondary pandemic of loneliness and social isolation. Meanwhile, the climate crisis demands the building of  skills for local small scale organic food production that supports nature and biodiversity.  Oxford City Farm is uniquely placed to meet all these challenges. 

Achieving our crowdfunding target will ensure we are able to maintain and grow our food prodution; put in place new infrastructure to keep more animals and deliver more projects informed by the needs and aspirations of our community. 

Thanks to a fantastic match funding offer from Power to Change Community Business Crowdmatch - if we reach our £10,000 target from a minimum of 50 supporters we will receive additional £5,000!

In addition to this we have also been selected to recieve immediate pound for pound match funding on individual donations up to £250 per donation, meaning we can raise an addtional £10,000!

We can also claim 25% gift aid on donations made by UK tax payers. 

Making any donation you are able to make up to 175% bigger!!  - Thank you.

Developing our animal infrastructure

 The animals at the farm - Sean, Shaggy, and Scooby the sheep and our growing flock of laying hens - are a huge draw for adults and children alike. Caring for our animals is therapeutic, educational and fun. We constantly receive feedback from visitors and volunteers that they would like to see more animals on site. These funds will help us develop the infrastructure, including fencing and shelter, to enable us to bring more animals to the site as well as offering more opportunities for visitors and volunteers to interact with the animals

The Kitchen at the Farm

Thanks to the amazing generosity of our wonderful community, via the Crowdfunder May 2020, the Kitchen at the Farm is fully operational and is looking fantastic. Sophia, our kitchen lead, and our fabulous kitchen volunteers, have been working with people of all ages and backgrounds and in partnership with many local support organisations, to prepare and cook delicous and nutritious meals, using produce harvested at the farm or donated surplus food. In doing so, building skills to cook,  an appetite for fresh locally grown and, simply prepared food.

There is huge demand for more access to the cooking related activities from the Kitchen at the Farm. Achieving our crowdfunding target will enable us to continue to deliver at least 2 sessions a week while we apply for longer term funding and develop enterprise initiatives at the Farm.

Volunteering:

Our community farming sessions have been a life line for many of our volunteers during Covid - they are the core of our community provision and bring together people from all walks of life to learn and grow together. 

People benefit from exercise and fresh air, connect with others and feel proud of the part they are playing in getting fresh local food onto the plates of people who might otherwise lack access to it.

The pandemic has only served to highlight how fundamental exercise, fresh food and social connection are for health and wellbeing and at the Farm volunteers have access to it all!

Achieving our target will ensure the continuation of at least 2 sessions per week.

This project successfully funded on 16th February 2022