Our history
Involve Yorkshire & Humber was established in 1997, in response to the growing importance of the English regions for economic planning purposes. Public agencies such as Government Office for Yorkshire and the Humber and Yorkshire Forward were set up at this time and decisions about structural European funding programmes were now being taken at regional level. As an important player in supporting economic growth, the voluntary and community sector (VCS) needed a strong voice within the various programmes that were being planned and delivered, and so the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Forum (as it was then known) was set up by the sector to fulfil this role.
Involve Yorkshire & Humber was registered as a charity in 1998 and recruited its first three employees a year later, with support from the National Lottery (as was). The main focus in those early days was on providing strategic representation for the sector at regional level, and enabling VCS organisations to grasp regional structures, policy and programmes. Since then, Involve Yorkshire & Humber has slowly grown and has developed specialisms, including VCS Workforce and Skills, the BME VCS, issues and support for rural organisations and technical support for European funding.
In November 2008 we became a company limited by guarantee and changed our registered name to Yorkshire and the Humber Regional Forum Limited. In February 2011 we adopted our new trading name: Involve Yorkshire & Humber, along with new logo, branding and business model.
We moved to our current office in Gallery House in October 2011.
