The last blog I wrote was about how we fund the work we do. This has become even more difficult since that last blog. We have been fortunate to gain some funding from Children In Need which gives us a grant for three years to cover the salary of one of our youth team.
However, this is just the tip of the iceberg. I wrote a list the other day of the core activities we need to fund and top of the list was salaries. We have a very small team of people here, 2 full time, 4 part time and 3 sessional workers. Unlike the private sector we don't get bonuses when the company is doing well....instead we plough any profit back into the charity and try to build some reserves so we can weather future financial storms.
We don't manufacture a product to sell for a profit or deliver a service that people can purchase...We provide a place where people can meet, a community hub, we provide staff to manage the building day to day as well as working strategically to develop, sustain and build the charity and meet our charitable objectives. We have to raise money to cover the costs of all this, although people sometimes pay to access some of our activities, that money pays for the tutor and nothing else. We still have to find the money to pay salaries, utility bills and maintenance of the building. We have some rooms that we let out to other organisations and local individuals at low cost which brings in some income, we are also fortunate to have a good relationship with a local Warwick Charitable trust who give us a grant, but finding the rest of the money continues to be difficult. We cannot charge people or charge more for services and activities or room hire and so we continue to apply to other grant making organisations and try to find innovative ways to raise money. Recently we have started our Buy a Brick scheme, where people pay a small amount of money to have their name on one of the bricks on our wall, we run ladies pamper evenings and quiz nights and have also started selling second hand books to people using the centre.
Each year we set our budget based on what we know will be coming in, we have pared the budget right down and spend a lot of time working on reducing costs, buying carefully and comparing prices. We are not alone...many voluntary organisations are doing the same, trying to keep their heads above water because we know our services are becoming increasingly more and more important as statutory services are cut.
Raising the money to keep going is getting harder and harder, and the numbers of people coming to us for help and support is increasing day by day as local government cuts more and more services. I keep hoping that things will change and that someone will eventually realise that as a society we need to invest in society in order to ensure the continued health and well being of people in our communities.......but until that day it is vital that organisations in the voluntary sector are able to keep going and picking up the pieces..........so, if you are able to support your local charity then do, support doesn't have to always be monetary either, do you have some skills that might be useful? are you good at organising events? do you have contacts in local firms you could approach to help? The list is endless...why not have a think and see how you could help your community.
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