With annual running costs of around £400,000 and fierce competition for limited grants, securing long-term funding is a constant challenge—only one in three applications is successful. That’s why building strong relationships with our funders is so important.
We were recently thrilled to meet with two of our key funders—the Eveson Charitable Trust and the National Lottery Awards for All team. These visits allowed us to showcase our work first-hand, highlighting the impact their support has on young people facing homelessness. From welcoming trustees to Hanover House to presenting our work in Birmingham, these meaningful conversations reinforced the vital role of funders in sustaining our services.
The Eveson Trust have provided us with £30,000 towards our running costs this year. Eveson are a Charitable Trust, formed when Mrs Violet Eveson bequeathed her estate upon her death in 1993, wishing that the funds be used for charitable purposes to support the homeless, children in need and people with disabilities.
Mark and Shanti from the Eveson Board of Trustees came over to visit us to see how we are spending their money. It was great to show them around so they could get a real feel for what we do here at Hanover House. Sitting down and having a chat with our staff over a cuppa was really beneficial, as it is often quite difficult to convey the real essence of the work we do and the impact we have on a grant application form with a limited word count. Thank you to both Mark and Shanti for taking the time out of their busy schedules to come over and see us.
Next, it was our turn to hop on a train as we were invited to visit The National Lottery offices in Birmingham. Awards for All from the National Lottery have awarded us £20,000 of funding, which will be spent on part of a Support Worker’s salary over the next two years. We delivered a presentation to a room full of decision makers, and then Maisie (pictured above), whose role is funded by this grant, explained her day to day experiences of working with young people in crisis and the challenges this presents, as well as the success stories. Again, this was a really great way of showing the impact of our work and initiated some interesting questions and thoughts from the Awards for All team, many of whom have teenagers of their own. Realising that many of our clients, who are a similar age to their own children, have no family support of their own was a real eye opener and emphasised the need for Support Workers like Maisie, who step in to fill the gaps. It was also interesting to hear that many people hadn’t considered that a young person who is sofa surfing at a friends house due to a family breakdown is actually considered as homeless.
Meeting with The Eveson Charitable Trust and the National Lottery Awards for All Team have been really beneficial opportunities for us to really provide a sense of what it is like to work on the ground at The Basement Project with young people facing homelessness. Thank you to both organisations for your continued support.