The Charity was formed in November 2003, and In the first few years, we started to find our way, and develop our systems. Serious fundraising only began in 2007, as we became more widely known, and applications began to increase rapidly. This is shown in the first graph below. As the years have progressed, this growth has tended to thankfully stabilise, but the level of requests for help still present us with new fundraising challenges each year.
We make no predictions about where we might be going next, everything depends on our supporters, the funds raised, and the extent of applications for help we receive that comply with our grant criteria. Please see our Grant Applications page.
A reduction in grants completed in Q4 meant that our overall total for the year was lower than originally anticipated. It did however allow us to rebuild reserves ready for an expected surge in applications in early 2024. This occurred because during Q4 we received a number of applications much larger than our normal size, which will require co-funding with other charities if we are to consider proceeding with a grant. Applicants had already approached other charities, and there has been a delay pending the receipt of responses, so that we can determine any balance of funding still required and consider if we could also help.