6 simple ways to help Communicare continue its services
Finance Update
Some good news!
You may recall that back in November we announced that our budget was not going according to plan and that we were struggling to maintain our income, which is a problem all charities have been facing. Communicare made a callout for help with their finances in their November newsletter and suggested several ways in which your help would play a big part in building our finances back up!The good news is that, quite spectacularly, Communicare’s finances were looking much happier and healthier by the end of the financial year. Volunteer and client donations had gone up impressively over the last financial year, which was incredible to see! Fundraising is on and above target for the year 2017/2018 which is fantastic!A big heart-felt “thank you” must be said to all you outstanding volunteers and to all of our clients for all your – and their – contributions and support; it has been and is invaluable to the work that Communicare does. If Communicare is to continue it will need to keep up this momentum and in the meantime here are some ways that you and others can help maintain the finances that enable the services and help given to those isolated and lonely in Southampton:
You may recall that back in November we announced that our budget was not going according to plan and that we were struggling to maintain our income, which is a problem all charities have been facing. Communicare made a callout for help with their finances in their November newsletter and suggested several ways in which your help would play a big part in building our finances back up!The good news is that, quite spectacularly, Communicare’s finances were looking much happier and healthier by the end of the financial year. Volunteer and client donations had gone up impressively over the last financial year, which was incredible to see! Fundraising is on and above target for the year 2017/2018 which is fantastic!A big heart-felt “thank you” must be said to all you outstanding volunteers and to all of our clients for all your – and their – contributions and support; it has been and is invaluable to the work that Communicare does. If Communicare is to continue it will need to keep up this momentum and in the meantime here are some ways that you and others can help maintain the finances that enable the services and help given to those isolated and lonely in Southampton:
- Spread the word about any events that we hold to the public such as Vintage and Craft Fairs. You can do this via sharing information on Facebook, forwarding on events in emails and simply talking to people
- Ensure that service users who are willing/able to make a donation are thanked; the donation accepted and passed on to the office
- If you do not want to claim your expenses that you still hand in your form, particularly if we can claim back Gift Aid on your donation
- Join us for forthcoming events (eg the Hospital Homecoming Launch Party) and bring a crowd with you!
- Think of your own fundraising activity – Contact the office if you feel you need any advice!
- Choose to nominate 1% of what you spend on Co-op products in Southampton stores to go to Communicare membership.coop.co.uk
We fully appreciate that not everyone will have the capacity to do any more for us than they already are and are very grateful for everything that you do. Please don’t feel pressurised to add to the ways in which you already support us if it is not appropriate, but there may just be some of you who are able to help in this additional way.
Grants
We are currently in the process of writing reports for Sovereign which funded our Volunteer Forums, Comic Relief – Community Tea Parties, and Woodroffe Benton Foundation – core costs. Once these are completed we can look at applying for new grants.