Local Trust
Ruth Jones is an experienced professional in the nonprofit sector with significant expertise in program management, fundraising, and operations. Currently serving as an Area Coordinator at Local Trust since September 2022, Ruth previously held the position of Program Manager at Bath City Farm from March 2021 to April 2022 and worked as the Fundraising & Communications Manager at Bristol Refugee Rights from February 2014 to March 2021. Additional experience includes roles such as Office Manager at Windmill Hill City Farm, Operations Manager at The Space Trust, and various positions at Oxfam, including Programme Funding Coordinator and Regional Human Resource Coordinator. Ruth holds an MSc in Rural Resource Management from Bangor University and a Master of Arts in Social Anthropology & Development Studies from The University of Edinburgh.
Local Trust
Local Trust was established to deliver Big Local, a unique initiative that puts residents across the country in control of decisions about their own lives and neighbourhoods. Funded by the Big Lottery Fund, it provides in excess of £1m of long-term funding over 10-15 years to 150 local communities that have historically missed out on lottery and other funding. Big Local is generating new and important learning and insight around the potential and limits of localism; the challenges of long term, place-based funding; and the limitless potential of local people to transform their own futures. We’ve just launched our first ever arts programme, Creative Civic Change, a joint initiative with the Big Lottery Fund and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (UK Branch) which will enable communities to transform themselves through arts and creativity. Our research project, The Future for Communities, shares findings from an 18-month research project asking ‘What needs to happen for communities to feel and be more powerful in the future?'.