Puzzlewood Forest in the Forest of Dean upon which Tolkein is thought to have based his fictional Fangorn Forest in The Lord of the Rings.
Barnaby and Cassandra Wiener live near Petworth, with their two children and a variety of animals. Barnaby is a fund manager and Cassandra is a human rights lawyer, currently doing doctoral research into domestic abuse. “We both feel a social obligation to give something back and we both find that our charitable activity is probably the most satisfying thing we do,” says Barnaby. “As well as Sussex Community Foundation, we support a range of charitable activities in this country and abroad, via a charitable trust we set up a few years ago.”
The Wieners decided to set up the Fangorn Fund at Sussex Community Foundation in February 2014. We asked them what makes giving through the Foundation more attractive than other kinds of local giving. “The great thing about the Foundation is that it focuses on small, grassroots projects and that, as its name suggests, it helps to foster a sense of community which we both think is vital for a healthy society’,” says Barnaby.
The Fangorn Fund is one of our endowment funds and the income generated from its investment will support a range of charitable causes, with an emphasis on tackling disadvantage. The issues addressed may include (for example, but not exclusively):
- homelessness
- substance misuse
- domestic violence
- offenders and those at risk of offending
- needs of young people
- activities that strengthen the local community, particularly in rural areas.
The Fangorn Fund will give out its first grants in 2015. For more information on endowment funds, click here.