The King’s Foundation

Working nationally and internationally, the King’s Foundation regenerates and cares for places where sustainable communities can thrive and visitors can enjoy. At the heart of the organisation is the heritage-led regeneration of the Dumfries House estate and its wider community, where principles and philosophies are explored and put into practice. The King’s Foundation has been supported by KCCF for many years. The work of the Foundation is inspired by His Majesty’s philosophy of harmony: that by understanding the balance, the order and the relationships between ourselves and the natural world we can create a more sustainable future.

One of the ways KCCF funding is making a difference is by supporting The King’s Foundation’s purpose-built health and wellbeing centre on the Dumfries House estate. The centre offers intensive 4-7 week programmes in Living Well with Pain, Prediabetes and Weight Management, Fertility, Wellbeing, Menopause and Mindfulness. Set up to enable the East Ayrshire community to benefit from social prescribing it has now been expanded to include all of Ayrshire and Arran. 2,314 people have been supported on these multi-week courses in 2023/24. Each programme evaluates measures such as increased physical activity, reduction in isolation and improved self-management of conditions, and every programme measures wellbeing before and after each programme.

Recent research suggests that social prescribing schemes can deliver between £2.14 and £8.56 for every £1 invested. The work achieved to date has also been used as a case study by the National Academy for Social Prescribing and the World Health Organisation to advocate for social prescribing.