Boost for Essex-based causes as Provide Community more than triples its community grants
24th May 2022
Essex-based social enterprise, Provide Community, has announced the release of its biggest round of funding to date, with 27 local charities and community groups awarded grants totalling £374,646.
The successful funding applicants include homeless charities CHESS in Chelmsford (pictured) and Beacon House in Colchester, Essex Blind Charity, Farleigh Hospice caring for terminally ill patients in mid Essex, Headway Essex supporting individuals with an acquired brain injury, CARA (Centre for Action on Rape and Abuse) and the Laughter Specialists, providing entertainment to severely ill children.
Many have been awarded grants of over £15,000 each, with some reaching as much as £20,000.
As a Community Interest Company (CIC) responsible for the delivery of health and social care services across Essex and East Anglia and beyond, Provide Community reinvests its profits to benefit the communities it serves.
“Our strategic grants enable us to extend our support beyond the services we deliver.”
Each year, Provide Community works in partnership with Essex Community Foundation (ECF) to shortlist charities and groups that have applied for funding, before turning to its members to vote for their preferred recipients and decide on how its surpluses should be distributed.
Last year, a total of £103,012 was awarded to 16 charities through this initiative. With a goal to increase this year-on-year, Provide Community has more than trebled its community funding in 2022, taking the total amount of grant and match funding to more than £3.5 million in the last 10 years.
Mark Heasman, Group Chief Executive of Provide Community, explained how investing in local communities is an important part of the company’s ethos:
“This year’s funding provision is a fantastic achievement for the business, supporting our vision to transform lives through care, innovation and compassion.
“Everyone at Provide makes a difference to the communities within which we operate and crucially has a say in how we do this. We all care about making a long-lasting impact on those we work for and our strategic grants enable us to extend our support beyond the services we deliver.”
The full list of charities that received funding along with the amount awarded can be found on Provide Community’s website via www.provide.org.uk/latest-news.
An evening at Layer Marney Tower
16th May 2022
We brought together over 100 of our fundholders and supporters at Layer Marney Tower to share an update of our work and discuss local issues that communities are facing across Essex.
It was great to be back together again, and we are so grateful to Nick and Sheila Charrington for letting us use their beautiful venue.
During the event, we highlighted two organisations where “caring” is at the heart of everything they do. They shared the challenges they face, the joy they bring to their beneficiaries and touched on how the financial support from ECF has helped to further their work. These were:
Abberton Rural Training (ART)
ART provides education and training in a wide range of Land Based Studies, including Horticulture, Woodlands, Conservation and Construction.
Getting outdoors to learn something new boosts the mental health of their beneficiaries and gives them practical skills to help them find employment. Their beneficiaries include those suffering with mental ill-health, injured service personnel and people with special educational needs. They also help people to write CVs, practice interview skills and find jobs to apply to.
We supported ART with a grant of £35,200 to help cover the running costs of their work in the Braintree District over the next two years, helping people who are unemployed or having mental health problems.
Candles – North Essex Down Syndrome Support Group (pictured)
Parents who have a child with Down Syndrome came together to set up this community group, which provides valuable support and activities for families in the same situation to enjoy together.
Sessions include dance classes, football, cycling clubs and specialist sessions such as Makaton & Speech Language Classes to improve communication. Having started in Colchester, the group has grown and now provides support to families in and around Tendring, Maldon, Braintree and Babergh.
We awarded Candles a grant of £3,841to support their running costs and expand their offering for local families.
Why is giving locally so important?
Supporting the local community is a big part of Rickard Luckin’s history. Over a decade ago, the chartered accountants and tax advisers took steps to embed this value into its ethos, ensuring it is part of the business’s future. Gayner Smith, Director at Rickard Luckin, explains how the team did it:
“In 2009, we started working with Essex Community Foundation (ECF) and set up the ‘Rickard Luckin Community Fund’. For those new to the concept,
ECF is an independent charitable trust based in Chelmsford that helps people, companies and public agencies give back to their local community effectively and efficiently.
“It just made perfect sense to us. We liked having our own corporate-named charity through which we could give support to some of the lesser-known local voluntary groups working in areas where our offices are based. Some of them we didn’t even know existed! We wanted colleagues to be involved in deciding who we should support. But we didn’t necessarily know which local organisations would benefit most from our help, and we also needed some assistance in assessing requests.”
Since setting up the Rickard Luckin Community Fund, the company, which has offices in Basildon, Chelmsford and Southend, has given away over
£21,000 in grants to support a wide range of local charities and groups. These include Southend Foodbank, City of Chelmsford Mencap and Autism
and Nature. In addition, the team regularly organises events and has already raised over £53,000 in an endowed fund that secures their support for the local community forever.
Gaynor continued, “It is important to us that our corporate giving remains in Essex as it is where most of our team and many of our clients live, so we want to reinvest back into local communities. We also offer payroll giving, which is a great way for our staff to donate to our Fund (and a method that benefits from tax relief).
“Working with ECF also allows us to help clients who want to discuss how best they can give to charity during their lifetime, or as part of their estate planning and writing their will. We can advise on the various giving options and available tax incentives, but if they want to know more, we are pleased to suggest they speak with ECF as this is their area of expertise. It’s a great partnership that benefits us all.”
It is often the larger, national charities that receive donations. But local charities make up a large proportion of the charity sector and often operate on tiny budgets; 85% of registered charities in the UK have an annual income of less than £100,000 and hundreds more community groups operate informally. By supporting deserving causes closer to home, our people can see what a difference their support makes. Giving to national charities is certainly worthwhile, but nothing beats championing your local community.
To discuss how you can support local charities, call Perry Norton, Head of Development at ECF, on 01245 355947 or email perry@essexcf.org.uk
Republished from Essex Director Magazine.
Teaming up to open a summer house for young people in Essex
29th April 2022
Together we can make a difference. That’s why Charlie Watkins Foundation (CWF) and Youth Enquiry Service (YES) have teamed up once again to better support young people in Essex with the creation of ‘Charlie’s Cabin’, a new summer house.
The CWF has been working with YES since the start of 2021 on a variety of projects to benefit young people in the area.
YES supports more than 2,000 young people in Essex, helping to address their emotional needs and providing support through community projects.
One of these projects is the GoGreen community garden – an allotment space where young people can gather and work together to grow fruit and vegetables. The GoGreen Community Garden shares produce with the local foodbank and the site also has a small kitchen so that the produce can be cooked into delicious meals to share.
David Sollis, the CEO of YES, said the GoGreen project: “Has allowed young people a safe space away from the concerns of the world and allows YES and those young people to build a long-term relationship together.”
Now, thanks to funding from CWF, YES has created a new addition to the community garden; a summer house called ‘Charlie’s Cabin’.
Charlie’s Cabin will provide a safe and quiet space for the young people at YES to be able to open up to each other and YES staff about any troubles they may be facing.
A frequent visitor to YES, Clare Osbourne said: “Going to YES and taking part in the projects has helped me and my mental health immensely. Having the space to talk to people my own age as well as having support from the staff means so much to me and I really look forward to my visits there.”
This new addition to the project follows CWF previously funding essential gardening tools to YES, including a large 6m by 3m gazebo to use in bad weather and the project leaders’ costs.
CWF has also worked with YES to help fund two school navigator roles, offering face-to-face mental health support to students.
We are pleased to administer CWF and help them to award grants to local charities and community groups in Essex.
If you’d like to help CWF fund more essential items like these for young people, please consider making a donation.
Republished from Charity Today.
Welcoming guests to Ingatestone Hall
21st April 2022
We welcomed 80 of our fundholders, donors and supporters to Ingatestone Hall for our first Spring Reception in two years.
It was great to be back together again, and we are so grateful to our President Lord Petre for allowing us to hold our event in his lovely home.
Evenings like this are valuable opportunities for us to bring our people together, sharing stories about funds and talking about issues that are being tackled in our local communities.
Two local voluntary organisations spoke and shared how financial support from ECF has helped to further their work. These were:
BOSP (Brighter Opportunities for Special People)
For over 30 years BOSP has been supporting families who have children with disabilities or life-limiting conditions.
Their sessions for those aged 0-25, help to develop their independence, self-esteem and communication skills, while improving parents’ well-being by providing much needed respite. This care allows them to spend quality time with their partner or other children, do work or catch up on much-needed sleep.
We supported BOSP with a grant of £20,000 to run a respite service for children in Basildon and Brentwood who could not return to school full-time once lockdown lifted.
Kool Carers
If a parent has a disability or illness, their child or children will often take responsibility for some of their personal care and tasks around the house, such as cooking and cleaning, alongside looking after any siblings.
Time out from the pressure of caring responsibilities is so important for young people in this role.
Kool Carers was set up in 2018 to provide a safe environment where young carers can access professional support, to help them cope with their responsibilities, while they attend group events and other fun activities.
We awarded Kool Carers a grant of £5,000 towards the salary of a full-time administrator to help further their work.
“Moving-in” to local communities
Douglas Allen Estates has a long history of supporting local communities. Now, they have gone a step further to embed this value into the company’s ethos.
Working with the independent charitable trust, Essex Community Foundation (ECF), they have set up the Douglas Allen Foundation. Grants will be given out to charities and voluntary groups providing vital care and support to children with mental or physical disabilities and their families in Essex and East London, particularly in areas where the Douglas Allen offices are based.
Michael Wright, Douglas Allen’s Operations Director said, “This is a great partnership for us and makes perfect sense. ECF has the expertise we need to help us achieve our corporate charitable aims and ensure that the money we give away is used in the most effective and efficient way.”
Michael also stated that “We want our staff to be involved in fundraising for our Foundation and have a say in the decision-making. ECF can help us achieve this.”
Set up over 60 years ago, the local estate agents came to life in East London as ‘Dennis Garrard Spiro’, representing the names of its founders. In the 1970’s, Martin Garrard left to open his own agency and Cyril Dennis and Ivor Spiro bought an old chain of surveyors and estate agents called ‘Douglas Allen’.
Over the next 12 years, the company expanded rapidly, opening branches in North & East London and Essex. Following the collapse of the property market in 1991, Arun Estates, based in Kent and Sussex was looking for an opportunity to expand into Essex and they purchased the business in 1993.
Since then, it has gone from strength to strength, building a strong reputation to become one of the largest independent estate agents in the South-East of England.
Wright’s predecessor, Jon Holden said: “For us, it’s important to invest in our local community. Our support goes beyond the occasional donation. We’re constantly looking for new ways to raise money, imploring everyone, from our staff to our customers alike, to get involved in fundraising efforts to help make a difference. We look forward to taking the next step on this journey by working with ECF.”
The first round of grants have gone to:
- BOSP (Brighter Opportunities for Special People) – £13,250 to provide a range of support and activities for children with disabilities in South Essex.
- Candles (North Essex Down Syndrome Support Group) – £3,841 to run activities, events, clubs and specialist sessions for families with young children who have Down Syndrome.
- Children Today – £793 to buy a specialist buggy for a young boy in Braintree District who has various disabilities.
- Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity – £7,429 to provide transport and support to families in Essex with a severely ill child in hospital (pictured).
- SNAP – £191 to buy a specialist car seat for a 3-year-old girl in Basildon who has a range of sensory issues.
Caroline Taylor, CEO at ECF, said: “We are pleased to be working with Douglas Allen and Arun Estates.
“It can sometimes be difficult for companies to know where to give support and what impact it will have. At ECF, we have over 25 years’ experience of working with our donors, connecting them with the issues and causes that they care about and helping them to achieve their charitable aims.”
To apply for funding from the Douglas Allen Foundation, please call the ECF grants team on 01245 355947 or apply now.