What does the Yorkshire Cricket Foundation do?

Updated

The Yorkshire Cricket Foundation uses cricket as a tool to create a lasting, positive impact on people living across Yorkshire. According to the club's own description, it works through three key themes — Health & Wellbeing, Heritage and Participation — and aims to reach communities throughout the county regardless of age, religion or ability.

The three themes, explained

The Foundation's work is organised around three areas, each with a different focus:

Theme What it covers
Health & Wellbeing Using cricket to support physical and mental wellbeing in local communities
Heritage Preserving and sharing the history and cultural role of cricket in Yorkshire
Participation Getting more people involved in the game, at any level

These themes are not separate programmes so much as lenses the Foundation applies to its community work. The common thread is the Yorkshire Cricket brand being used as a way to reach people who might not otherwise engage with the club.

Who it is for

The Foundation explicitly states that its work is aimed at people across the whole county, regardless of age, religion or ability. That is a broad remit — it means the Foundation is not just a talent pathway or a youth scheme, but a community-facing operation.

If you are trying to work out whether a particular programme is relevant to you, that statement is the useful starting point: the intended audience is defined by where you live (Yorkshire) rather than by how well you play, how old you are, or your background.

How it sits within the club

The Foundation appears on the Yorkshire County Cricket Club homepage alongside the men's and women's teams, which tells you it is treated as a core part of the organisation rather than a side project. The homepage describes the site as featuring "the Yorkshire Men's and Women's teams, as well as the Yorkshire Cricket Foundation."

In practice this means:

  • The Foundation has its own presence on the club site, with a "Learn more" route into its work.
  • It shares the club's platform with match news, results and membership information.
  • Its activities sit alongside — but are distinct from — the professional teams' fixtures and competitions.

What the Foundation is not

It is worth being clear about the boundary. The Foundation is a community and charitable-style operation, not the competitive side of the club. The men's and women's teams, the Academy and the Emerging Player Programme (EPP) are separate from the Foundation's remit, even though they all appear on the same website.

If your interest is in playing pathways, trials or professional cricket, the Foundation's themes are not the right place to look. If your interest is in community projects, wellbeing, heritage or widening access to the game, that is exactly what the Foundation covers.

Where to go next

The homepage provides a "Learn more" link under the Yorkshire Cricket Foundation section, which is the direct route into its work. From there you can see how the three themes translate into actual activity. The Foundation's own pages are the authoritative source for current programmes, since specific projects and offerings can change over time.