WALCOTFOUNDATION/2015 We are an independent grantmaking foundation established in the 17th century and operating exclusively in Lambeth. We fund activity which helps improve the future prospects of those on the lowest incomes. Our aim is to break cycles of deprivation and to tackle poverty by creating opportunity through education, training and employment Over the last ten years we have made grants of more than ÂŁ17 million to 3,200 individuals and 1,821 organisations, projects and schools
walcotfoundation.org.uk
One person’s gift to the people of Lambeth is having an impact he could not have dreamt of - 348 years later Edmund Walcot made provision in his Will of 1667 for those who were experiencing hardship. He left land, the rents from which were to be distributed to the poor of Lambeth. Today his gift is worth many tens of millions of pounds and with our other charities generates the money we are able to give as grants. We fund many activities, all aimed at helping low income Lambeth residents gain the skills and knowledge most likely to help them gain properly paid work. Find out more about what we do, how we can help, and how you may be able to help us...
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Introduction
Contents
Our 17th century purpose is the relief of poverty in Lambeth.
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Last year we made of grants of £1.8 million. This year we have budgeted for £1.96 million. We spend it in Lambeth, on Lambeth people. It may seem a large sum but is a drop in the ocean given the extent of poverty in the UK and in London. It is estimated that a third of Lambeth’s children live in poverty. Most of our work is concerned with children and young adults up to 30 and has the aim of helping equip them to find decently paid work throughout their working lives. A new threat to this aim is the growth of ‘in-work’ poverty. On page 10 you will find news of our pilot scheme to explore ways of addressing this dehumanising reality. Our work brings us into contact with people and organisations in and around Lambeth who demonstrate drive, ingenuity and hope. We value them enormously, as we do our principal benefactor Edmund Walcot and all that his 17th century gift allows us to do today.
Introduction What we’ve been doing Grantmaking Recent grants £10k+ New benefactor Our approach In-work poverty Governors 1667-2017: 350 years Living Wage Contacts & legal Location map
In the Spring of 2016 the Governors will set revised triennial grantmaking priorities for 201619. As part of this exercise we have already begun seeking the views of partners, grantees and stakeholders on what they see as changing patterns of need amongst those we exist to help. If you’d like to check the progress of this exercise and to make comments please visit walcotfoundation.org.uk/ triennialpriorities
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What we’ve been doing
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Last year (2014/15) we made grants totalling £1,813,717: we considered 541 applications and made 357 new awards. This year (2015/16) we have set aside £1.96m for grantmaking
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We want to help address the problem of ‘in-work’ poverty and are piloting a programme in partnership with Trust for London (see page 10)
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Our Peer Support Network for organisations we have funded continues to provide a forum for networking, mutual support and sharing resources amongst member groups
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We continue to give free access for grantees to high quality debt counselling, budgeting and benefits advice, employment search and careers advice and - for organisations we fund or may fund organisational consultancy and capacity building
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We have been planning new ways of generating more income from the Foundation’s assets in order to increase the sums we have for our charitable work
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We have reviewed our grants programmes and the impact they have. We’ve developed some new programmes in the area of ‘immediate need’ in response to the impact of public spending cuts on the most vulnerable. And we have begun plans for the review by our Governors of their triennial priorities, due early 2016
Grantmaking We make grants. We make them directly to individuals and to organisations to benefit individuals. In every case the aim is the same: to help Lambeth citizens from low income backgrounds gain the education, knowledge, skill and confidence needed to get decently paid work across their working lifetimes. Our grants to individuals help meet the costs of higher education or vocational training. We fund course-related expenses (for example, computers, travel expenses, books) and child care. We have funded or are funding people studying NVQs in Health and Social Care, Motor Vehicle Maintenance, Child care, Hairdressing, Plumbing, Sound and Music Technology, British Sign Language and degrees in Mathematical Science, Business Management and Economics, Textile Design, Philosophy Politics and Economics, Environmental Health, Law, Medicine, Aerospace Engineering, Computer Science, Biomedical Science, English & American Studies. Our grants to organisations are funding projects from building ‘soft’ but essential skills for young unemployed people through to family support work and homework clubs. We fund organisations from new, small Lambeth-based community groups to well established charities. In all of them we look for a focus on low income Lambeth residents. Whenever possible we award multi-year grants in order to give organisations greater financial security, reduce fund-raising administration and to help them retain quality staff. Our grants to Lambeth schools fund literacy intervention programmes, family learning and parental engagement. Our grants for educational field trips ensure that pupils from low income homes can participate in the same way as their better off peers. Our aim is to ensure they have the same access to educational opportunities.
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Some recent grants to organisations: £10,000 and more (2014-15 and first half 2015-16) •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• ••
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198 Contemporary Arts & Learning Apprentice Programme £20,000 ADP Consultancy Capacity Building Programme £48,544 Alford House Targeted Youth Support £18,000 Blackfriars Advice Centre Financially Educating Lambeth £20,000 Cambridge House Stand-Up Lambeth £15,000 CEF Lyncx (CEFL) Community After School Clubs £20,000 CEF Lyncx (CEFL) Community After School Clubs £25,000 Clapham and Lark Hall Collaborative Literacy Rescue Project £27,839 Communities Welfare Network Training in health and social care £17,496 Creative Sparkworks Learn2film2£arn £24,900 Ebony Horse Club Youth Worker £22,950 Fotosynthesis Literacy and numeracy through photography £14,070 Holy Trinity & St Matthias Community Building (Straw Bales) £20,000 Home-Start Lambeth Start Right Project £18,298 Indoamerican Refugee & Migrant Organisation English for Work £20,292 Jags Foundation C.A.R.E. Programme £12,712 Kids City Interjunction £20,000 Knights Youth Centre Youth Leader Apprenticeship Programme £18,979 Lifelong Family Links Employability project (special needs) £22,361 London Music Masters Bridge Project Lambeth Hub £20,000 London Youth Build-it £20,000 No. 1 Performing Arts (NOPA) Counselling Service £20,000 One Planet Ventures Hatch Enterprise Incubator £25,000 Ovalhouse Creative Employability and Young Associates programmes £25,000 Photofusion Community Programmes Manager £19,990 SE1 United Ltd Upgrade Yourself £17,000 Shine@ Brixton Learning Collaborative Shine on Saturdays £22,500 Shine @ Clapham & Larkhall Collaborative Shine on Saturdays £15,000 Snow-Camp Snow-Camp London £19,500 Southside Young Leaders Academy SYLA Education Programme £20,000 Spires Volunteering Training Programme for Employability £20,000
We post details of grants made to organisations at walcotfoundation.org.uk/showcase •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• ••
Springfield Community Flat Enabling EAL children to learn £20,000 St Luke’s Hub Digital and Financial Inclusion £20,000 Streatham Drop In Centre Refugee Families Learning £19,331 Street League Street League South London £20,000 The Ben Hollioake Learning Centre After School Education Scheme £20,000 The Camden Society Lambeth ProWork - Jobcoach £15,673 The Irene Taylor Trust ‘Making Tracks’ Lambeth £15,373 The Nehemiah Project Financial Advice £11,257 The Reasons Why Foundation Lambeth Caseworker £20,000 The Springboard Charity Into Work in Lambeth £20,000 The St Matthews Project Football Plus Scheme £20,000 Timewise Foundation In Work Progression - Employer Engagement £17,000 Timewise Foundation Moving closer to work project £19,908 Tomorrow’s People Walcot Career/Employment Advice £50,000 Trees For Cities Growing Skills in Lambeth £20,000 Walworth Garden Farm Level 2 Work Based Horticulture £20,000 Windsor Fellowship AIMS Programme £16,737 Working With Men for boys at risk of disengagement £22,500
Grants directly to individuals 2014-15 £184,891 2015/16 £221,000 (budgeted) Instalments of multi-year grants 2014/15 £675,000 To find out more about our grantmaking visit walcotfoundation.org.uk
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New benefactor In 2014 we were approached by a local resident who wished to establish a charity to assist Lambeth Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) students from poor backgrounds who gain a place at one of Britain’s Russell Group Universities. It was to become operative on her death using the proceeds of her estate. The donor saw that establishing a new charity would involve running costs that would deplete the value of her gift and found the ‘fit’ between her intentions and our work to be so closely aligned that she asked us to help. The principal sum - provided for in her Will - will eventually be given to the Foundation to be used for her specified purposes, and in the meantime she has made an initial gift of just over £100,000 to allow the programme to be launched during her lifetime.
If you are interested in making a gift to us either during your lifetime or via your Will please get in touch with our Director, Hugh Valentine or Finance Manager Lesley French. We can offer •
freedom from administrative charges that otherwise reduce the value of your gift
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a charitable Foundation with an almost 400 year history
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careful stewardship of our assets drawing on professional advice from fund managers and investment experts
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a sharp focus on giving a ‘hand up’ : our aim is long-term, sustainable change in the lives of our beneficiaries
If you are interested in our work - as a potential donor or not - please get in touch. We will be very glad to arrange for you to visit and talk with us. We can also welcome small groups (of up to around 10) and are glad to visit Lambeth schools and other local organisations to talk about our work. Contact Daniel Chapman, our Grants Manager. 8
How we work Our aims and approach Our broad approach is that employment is the best route out of poverty and the social exclusion and lost opportunities that accompany it. Our grants are intended to help grantees move along these key paths By targeting these conditions... achievement educational underachievement unemployable
unemployed
employable
employed
financially self-sufficient
financially disadvantaged ...we help our grantees move to these To support this approach We actively manage our assets so as to have money to spend on today’s beneficiaries and tomorrow’s. We focus on what impact our grants will have: broadly, this is a concern with success in education and training leading to employment. We are fair and consistent: we apply the same eligibility criteria; we do not discriminate on any basis other than income and residence. We are keen to learn: we are open to new ideas and constructive feedback and are always interested in new ways of achieving our aims. We do not stigmatise: the individuals we exist to help often have good reason to feel forgotten by wider society; we aim to build on strengths our grantees already have and to strengthen their confidence. 9
In-work poverty Research suggests that around 570,000 Londoners have been stuck in low paid work for at least a year and that the numbers are increasing. Despite this there has been little focus on funding programmes that help people to progress from low to decently paid work. Building on a number of events examining this issue we are piloting with Trust for London a jointly funded programme called Step Up. The aim is help people progress to better paid, more secure employment. We have awarded £480,000 over two years to pilot six approaches to help low-paid Lambeth residents tackle the barriers that prevent them from career progression. We are also working in partnership with Timewise Foundation to improve links with key employers in Lambeth with the aim of encouraging increased career progression opportunities for low-paid staff. For more information please contact our Grants team
“Times change, and so do contexts. As the present custodians of the Foundation we seek to read the signs of our times and to interpret our 17th century charitable purposes in the light of present realities and trends. This is not always easy, though we are clear that we are most effective when we go beyond the basic ‘relief of poverty’ and help our target groups gain the education, confidence and skills most likely to help them gain properly paid employment across their working lives, and so help them play a part as full, contributing citizens.” from the Governors’ Annual Report 2014/15
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English for Work programme, provided by IRMO (Indoamerican Refugee & Migrant Organisation) and funded by the Foundation
Governors In the summer of 2015 four of our Governors retired from the Foundation, each having given significant service over many years: Nigel Berman; Dilys Cossey (former Vice Chair of the Board and Chair of the Grants Committee); Veronica Ferguson and Mark Vinter (former Chair of the Board). We are hugely grateful to each of them. During 2015 Julia Carleysmith was appointed to the Board. The Board intends to seek up to four new Governors with the aim of making appointments by the Spring of 2016. To find out more please see walcotfoundation.org.uk/gov2016
Can you help us? If you are interested in our work and have something of offer please visit walcotfoundation.org.uk/volunteers
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In 2017 we shall mark the 350th anniversary of Edmund Walcot’s Will
By his Will dated 3 January 1667 Edmund Walcot left seventeen acres of land in Lambeth in trust for the poor. Though our roots go back earlier - to the charity established in 1622 by Roger Jeston - Edmund is our principal benefactor. In 2017 we shall mark the 350th anniversary of his gift. Our general approach is to limit as far as we can all expenditure save that of grantmaking. We do not therefore plan extravagant events to mark this anniversary but we are seeking to identify some special programmes that will honour his memory and celebrate his gift. We cannot know what he would make of the work of the foundation which today bears his name. He would find the 21st century unrecognizable - and 12
would be likely to find the continuing existence of poverty inexplicable in a society with such wealth. A third of Lambeth children are estimated to be growing up in poverty. Such poverty affects lives. These children begin their formal education developmentally behind their peers, and unless they are helped to catch up during those formative years are statistically more likely to earn less and to be disadvantaged throughout their lives. The aim of all we do is to break those cycles of disadvantage, not only for the good of those directly affected, but also for the common good. Detail from a drawing by Philip Smithies of Mr Walcot’s London
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Living wage Properly paid employment is the surest way out of poverty for working age people. To support this we are both a Living Wage Employer and part of the Living Wage Friendly Funder scheme. This seeks to ensure that all posts which we wholly or partially fund through our grants are paid at least the Living Wage. We encourage grantee organisations to consider whether they can become Living Wage employers themselves. The Living Wage is an hourly rate set independently and updated annually and is calculated according to the basic cost of living in the UK. Employers choose to pay the Living Wage - it is not compulsory. Paying the Living Wage is good for business, good for the individual and good for society. The Living Wage Employer Mark and Service Provider Recognition Scheme provide an ethical badge for responsible pay. An independent study examining the business benefits of implementing a Living Wage policy in London found that more than 80% of employers believe that the Living Wage had enhanced the quality of the work of their staff, while absenteeism had fallen by roughly 25%. Two thirds of employers reported a significant impact on recruitment and retention within their organisation. 70% of employers felt that the Living Wage had increased consumer awareness of their organisation’s commitment to be an ethical employer. Following the adoption of the Living Wage PwC found turnover of contractors fell from 4% to 1%. > www.livingwage.org.uk
www.brixtonbuzz.com
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WALCOTFOUNDATION 127 Kennington Road London SE11 6SF 020 7735 1925 walcotfoundation.org.uk office@walcotfoundation.org.uk grants@walcotfoundation.org.uk Constituent charities The Walcot Educational Foundation (312800) The Hayle’s Charity (312800-1) The Walcot Non Educational Charity (312800-2) The Cynthia Mosley Memorial Fund (312800-3) Trustee body The Walcot & Hayle’s Trustee (6133849) Staff Mandeep Bajwa Grants Officer (Tue-Fri) Gill Broaders Estate Admin & PA (Wed-Fri) Daniel Chapman Grants Manager Lesley French Finance Manager (Tue-Thur) Ben Moss Estate Admin & PA (Mon-Tue) Teresa Priest Grants Officer Tonia Meade Grants Administrator (Mon-Wed) Hugh Valentine Director & Clerk to the Governors Our most recent Annual Report and Accounts may be viewed at walcotfoundation.org.uk and at the Charity Commission website
We are a London Living Wage Employer and a Living Wage Friendly Funder
tackling poverty by creating opportunity Over the years various smaller charities have been subsumed into one or other of our larger charities, for reasons of efficient administration. These have included those of Roger Jeston (1622) Noel Caron (1623) Alice Easton (1640 ) William Hind (1655 ) Margaret Oakley (1672 ) Thomas Rich (1672 ) John Scaldwell (1678 ) Thomas Cooper (1695) Jacob Vanderlin (1704) Ralph Snow (1707) Bryan Turberville (1718) Countess of Gower (1721) Hayes Fortee’s (1783) Jane Wakeling (1786) John Course (1786) Richard Robert (1807) Mary Oakley (1812) Elizabeth Lambert (1814) John Pickton (1821) Grace Fenner (1828) Mary Chapman (1831) Eleanor Dodson (1847) Elizabeth Edridge (1848) Robert Frost 1860 Harry Clapham 1948
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127 Kennington Road London SE11 6SF 020 7735 1925 office@walcotfoundation.org.uk grants@walcotfoundation.org.uk
walcotfoundation.org.uk
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