Election 2026: delivering sustainable funding for Wales’s community anchor organisations
Across Wales, community anchor organisations which are locally based, easily accessible, widely connected to strong local networks and involved in a wide range of activities are quietly holding our social fabric together. They are often the first to respond when crises hit, the last to leave when resources run thin, and the constant presence providing human connection, practical support, and hope. Yet despite their indispensable role, these organisations remain structurally underfunded and precariously positioned.
Anchor organisations are central to building thriving and resilient communities.
Community anchor organisations are rooted in place, led by local people, and connected to the networks, trust, and knowledge that make support effective. They run everything from warm hubs to youth activities, from emergency food provision to skills programmes. They are not just organisations and buildings, they are engines of wellbeing, offering everything from exercise referral schemes to youth activities and emergency support. These organisations succeed because they are trusted, connected, and collaborative. Their work is not abstract. It is practical, immediate, and powerful. Policy must recognise and invest in these anchors, not undermine them with short-term, fragmented funding.
Gwynfi Miners’ Community Hall: A Lifeline in the Upper Afan Valley
Gwynfi Miners’ Community Hall has been under community management since 2013. Run by a tiny team and 30 volunteers, it now welcomes 17,500 visitors every year and offers cradle‑to‑grave support, from youth activities to rehabilitation programmes.
Its GP exercise referral scheme, originally funded for just 12 months, is now in its fifth year due to ongoing community-driven investment. The Hall provides not just activities, but stability, connection, and specialist support for people recovering from surgery, living with chronic pain, or dealing with mental health challenges.
Put simply: this is public health, social care, and community wellbeing rolled into one accessible local hub.
Brighter Futures in Rhyl: Meeting Immediate Needs While Building Long-Term Strength
Brighter Futures operates from a converted pub at the heart of Rhyl. It provides free meals, warm spaces, skills development, activities for all ages, and emergency support—helping 1,400 people in the last year alone and training 33 volunteers to provide peer support. They also run a community transport scheme available to voluntary groups across the town and facilitate a network of local community organisations encouraging collaboration and resource sharing.
Its model blends crisis response with long-term empowerment. It ensures that people have what they need today while building the resilience they need for tomorrow.
Here for Good Collective: Community-Led Regeneration in Action
In East Cardiff, the Here for Good Collective has taken on full ownership of its community building, transforming it into a vibrant, inclusive hub.
A team of staff and 50 volunteers run programmes for newborns to older adults, from gardening clubs to micro-grant schemes. They reach about 400 people every week through their own sessions and partner activities.
This is a model of community‑led regeneration that redistributes power, strengthens local leadership, and creates long-term local wealth.
Tackling the precarity these organisations face is essential for our future
Despite their deep value, anchor organisations remain structurally fragile. Our manifesto, Thriving Welsh Communities, makes clear that the next Welsh Government must address this head-on through long-term, flexible, sustainable investment.
The proposal is bold but realistic: a dedicated endowment fund.
Such a fund could provide the stability anchor organisations need to plan, grow, retain staff, and continue delivering frontline support. As our manifesto notes, even £30m could create an expendable fund, while £100m could form a permanent endowment, shifting the entire landscape of community support in Wales.
Community voices emphasise this too:
“It’s essential to see long-term money get into communities to help build on existing activity and assets.” [Community Group in Cardiff]
Without long-term security, we risk losing the very organisations that make prevention possible, and prevention is far cheaper, socially and economically, than crisis.
Why Policy Makers Must Act Now
Investing in community anchor organisations is an intelligent investment in:
public health
community safety
economic resilience
social cohesion
wellbeing and reduced inequality
These organisations understand their communities in ways statutory services simply cannot replicate. They cultivate trust that cannot be manufactured. They reach people who fall through the gaps.
Choosing not to invest now means higher costs later, in emergency healthcare, policing, homelessness services, and social care.
The choice is stark but simple:
Support anchor organisations now or face deeper and more expensive crises in future.
A Call to Policy Makers
Wales cannot afford to lose the infrastructure that truly anchors its communities. As policy makers seek to tackle major policy challenges, investing in community anchor organisations must be at the forefront.
Now is the moment to act with clarity and commitment, investing to secure the organisations that consistently support communities across Wales.