THEWALCOTFOUNDATION tackling poverty by creating opportunity
REVIEWï‚ NEWS 2016 Independent. Inspired. In Lambeth.
walcotfoundation.org.uk
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We are an INDEPENDENT grantmaking foundation dating from the early 17th century and operating exclusively in LAMBETH. We fund activity to improve the long-term 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 £18.4 MILLION to Lambeth people, projects, organisations and schools. In 2017 we celebrate the 350th anniversary of Mr Walcot’s Will of 1667. His generosity is still making an impact in Lambeth, three and a half centuries later.
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CONTENTS
Our mission and approach 4 Summary of grantmaking 2015/16 6 Grants directly to individuals 6 Feedback from grantees 7 Grants to organisations, schools, projects 8 Programme addressing immediate need 8 Examples of grants to organisations 10-11 350th anniversary 12 Peer support network 12 Walcot ‘added-value’ grantmaking 13 Explorations in addressing ‘in-work’ poverty 14 New grantmaking priorities 2016/2019 15 Monitoring impact 16 New donor, new grants programme 17 Larger grants 2015/2016 18 How you can help in our work 21 Get in touch 22
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OUR MISSION & APPROACH
We exist for the relief of poverty in Lambeth This is our 17th century purpose. Today we interpret it in a 21st century context. Our grants tackle poverty by creating opportunity and offer a hand-up, not a hand-out.
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Seeking to make the seemingly impossible possible for those disadvantaged by low income
We build on the strengths our grantees already have We view grantees as partners, not as recipients of our charity. We aim to build on the strengths and resilience they already have. Our belief is that becoming employable and employed is the best route out of poverty and the social exclusion and lost opportunities that accompany it.
To support our Mission We actively manage our assets so as to have the funds to achieve our aims for today’s beneficiaries and tomorrow’s We focus on what impact our grants will have Broadly, this is a concern with improvement and success in education, training and employment We are fair and consistent We apply consistent 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 reason to feel forgotten by wider society. This is why we offer a ‘hand-up’, not a ‘hand-out’
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Our grantmaking in 2015/2016 Some of our grants go directly to individual beneficiaries though most go to schools, projects and organisations as a way of reaching our target individuals. In 2015/16 our grantmaking totalled £1,981,716. Grants directly to individuals ranged from £90 to £4,528 and to organisations from £67 to £52,455.
Our grants directly to individuals During the year our grants team assessed 313 applications from individuals. Of these 208 resulted in grants totalling £153,462. The majority were for course-related expenses for university degrees and FE/vocational training courses and met the cost of computers, travel expenses, books, childcare and specialist equipment (examples include stethoscope and music equipment). 40% of the course-related grants supported students undertaking access courses or university degrees (ranging from Mathematical Science and Medicine to Law and Environmental Health). 47% of grants were made for NVQ/BTEC Level 1-4 courses (such as Hairdressing, Childcare, Plumbing and Health and Social Care). The remaining grants were made in support of A-Level studies and other qualifications.
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Feedback: grants to individuals 2015/2016
Jacqueline Gomes-Neves: Grant towards BSc Politics & International Relations With Economics “I am very grateful for the support given to me by the Walcot Foundation. My mother and I have been struggling and if it wasn’t for the Foundation I doubt I would have been able to afford my commute to university, and other pieces of essential equipment that have allowed me to excel at university. Thank you”
Seynab Ma’allin: Grant towards Biological Sciences at Queen Mary, University of London “The Walcot Foundation provided me all the essentials I needed for my academic year and saved me the stress and worry that I would have had to face due to my finances. The only thing I would like to say is Thank you.”
Xiao Feng Chen: Grant towards L3 Diploma For The Early Years Practitioner (CACHE) “Thank you for all the help, I’m working full time and the money was very helpful and I completed all my assignments on time and passed. Thank you.”
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Our grants to schools, projects and organisations During the year we assessed 105 applications from organisations and schools and from these made 73 new grants. We also released 45 payments to multiyear recipients that were in the second or third year of their project. A year passes quickly and we make multi-year grants to give grantee organisations some financial security, reduce the burden of fund-raising and to help them retain staff. Over the year we awarded £1.83 million to organisations and schools: 40 grants of £10,000 or less and 78 grants over £10,000. Of these 36% were focused on education projects, 52% on employment projects, 7% on financial sustainability (for example debt counselling and financial education projects) and 5% on other projects such as organisational capacity building. In 2015/2016 we continued to fund bursaries for school educational field trips so as to make them accessible to children from low income families. This year we made 32 grants to schools for this purpose, totalling £74,184.
A response to immediate need Our approach to alleviating poverty is not focused on the relief of immediate need but on enabling our grantees to gain the skills, confidence and opportunities most likely to allow them to earn a decent income over their working lives. However, a few years ago, whilst monitoring the impact of public spending cuts on some of the most vulnerable, our Governors decided to launch a new programme which addresses two areas of urgent need. One is to provide funds to establish a tenancy for young homeless people and those fleeing domestic violence. The other is to meet the bankruptcy fees for those with unsustainable debts. In 2015/16 we made 55 grants to help with rehousing (17 to young homeless, 38 in connection with domestic violence) and 13 grants to meet bankruptcy fees which cleared £148,850 in personal debt, allowing those affected to rebuild their lives. Applications to these programmes are accepted only through partner referral agencies.
Hatch Enterprises
Working with Men
Springboard
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Examples: grants to organisations 2015/2016 PARENTAL ENGAGEMENT IN CHILD’S EDUCATION Home-Start Lambeth – Start Right Project £25,000 over one year We were able to help fund specialist volunteer support to vulnerable low income parents. Volunteers work with families for 2-3 hours a week spending time engaging directly with the children, aiding their development. They also teach parents ways of managing behaviour, engaging in creative play and the crucial role parents have in preparing their child for school. Lark Hall Primary School – School Readiness Programme £8,963 over one year Our grants to this school have funded courses aimed at parents with children in nursery and reception classes. They have included workshops to help fathers support their child’s communication skills and emotional wellbeing, classes targeting parents with English as a second language and helping parents support the transition from nursery to school. LITERACY/NUMERACY SUPPORT Springboard – Intensive Literacy Tuition £25,200 over one year We helped fund twice weekly school-based one-to-one literacy tuition for children with a reading age roughly two years behind their chronological age. The project also offers parents advice on supporting literacy development at home. TACKLING DISENGAGEMENT Evelyn Grace Academy – Wellbeing Project £30,000 over one year This grant is helping expand Evelyn Grace Academy’s emotional well-being and therapeutic provision. It is targeted at students facing difficulties which impact on their ability to learn. As well as offering one-to-one therapeutic sessions there are also small self-management workshops, lunchtime and after school clubs and societies.
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Working with Men – Transition Support Project £69,545 over 3 years Our grant is funding work within the Gipsy Hill Federation of schools. Year 6 male pupils assessed as at risk of disengagement are the target. They are offered small group workshops on topics covering definitions of conflict, communication skills and anger management. Boys with greater need are offered mentoring and their parents one-to-one support continuing if need be into the first term of secondary school. EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS DEVELOPMENT Construction Youth Trust – Budding Builders Lambeth £21,769 The project we are funding provides a mobile classroom targeting Lambeth young people aged 16–30 who are NEET*. Each undertakes 40 hours of vocational learning in construction trades. They gain an accredited qualification in Health and Safety and a 5 year CSCS card (each a requirement for anyone wanting to secure work on a building site) and are supported to progress into further training, work placements and employment. TACKLING/AVOIDING DEBT Norwood and Brixton Foodbank – Advice Workers £25,000 We are funding this financial and debt advice at four weekly foodbank sessions (two in Norwood, two in Brixton). Foodbank can obtain advice on benefits, housing or debt. Additional advice can also be provided via phone and internet. Evolve Housing – Money Mapping Programme £23,315 over one year We are helping fund work with 75 homeless young people to improve their money management skills through courses and one-to-one mentoring. It is based at King George’s House in Stockwell (supported temporary housing for vulnerable young people). *NEET: not in education, employment or training
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350th anniversary: Mr Walcot’s Gift 2017 will mark the 350th anniversary of Mr Walcot’s Will and we shall be celebrating his generosity in a number of ways. •
Pathways out of poverty research project A qualitative research project using former Walcot grantees, undertaken by Birmingham University. The aim is to assess to what degree our grants to individuals contribute to social mobility.
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Evaluation of our Step Up programme Our Step Up programme, jointly funded with Trust for London, looks at solutions to in-work poverty. We shall be holding an event to report the findings.
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Edmund Walcot at The Garden Museum Our charities were administered for several centuries from the church which is now The Garden Museum. As part of its major refurbishment we have funded the Walcot Room which will play a role in the museum’s expanded educational work.
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Anniversary event - June 2017 We shall be hosting an event at the newly refurbished Garden Museum which will celebrate Mr Walcot’s Gift through presentations from some of the many organisations we fund.
These will be supported by a new publication marking the anniversary.
Our Peer Support Network In 2012 we launched a Peer Support Network for organisations we fund, or may fund. The aim of the network is to provide opportunities for networking, mutual support and sharing resources amongst member groups. It meets quarterly. We have about 25 small to medium organisations on our mailing list and attendance is usually c15 and meetings are organised by one of our Grants Officers along with our partner, ADP Consultancy. For more information contact Teresa Priest on 020 7735 1925.
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How and why we ‘add value’ to our grantmaking We developed what we describe as added value grantmaking in response to areas of need we had identified through our work. It simply means that in addition to a grant we can offer grantees access to high quality additional help of three different types. We fund these services through grants to external specialist bodies. Debt counselling, budgeting and benefits advice
Available to all our individual grant applicants from a Lambeth-based respected advice service
Employment search and careers advice
Individually tailored help in identifying options, preparing for interviews and getting work, available to all our individual applicants
Organisational capacity and resilience
Available to organisations we fund where help is needed in reviewing and building organisational capacity and resilience
To find out more please visit walcotfoundation.org.uk or contact our Grants Team.
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The growing problem of ‘in-work’ poverty We know from available research that around 570,000 Londoners have been stuck in low pay for at least a year and the numbers in low pay jobs are increasing. Despite this new emerging challenge of in-work poverty there has been little focus on funding programmes that help people progress to better paid work. This year we launched Step Up as a joint venture with our friends at Trust for London. We are piloting initiatives that help people to progress to better paid, more secure employment and so develop their careers. From October 2015 to September 2017 six local organisations are being funded to develop new programmes in this field. Each funded project has a slightly different focus. We are watching developments closely and looking for positive outcomes that can be replicated elsewhere.
A project within our Step Up programme aimed at helping those in work but on low wages
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Our new strategic priorities 2016-2019 We establish grantmaking priorities in order to make the greatest impact. During the year our Governors undertook their triennial review of these and agreed a slightly revised set (see below). They are not exclusive, and the Governors may consider exceptional applications outside them where the projected results fit well within our overall aims. For more please visit walcotfoundation.org.uk/triennial-priorities
Priorities
Sub elements
Removing barriers in Education
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Developing resilience and well-being Promoting effective parental engagement Student (re)engagement with school
Maximising Learning
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Mastering literacy and numeracy, particularly for students in KS2-4 (ages 7-16) Enrichment opportunities that inspire learning for low household income pupils
Building Employability
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• • Developing Money Sense
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Grants, bursaries, scholarships to support 18+ learning Enabling NEETS to gain soft skills and qualifications to find employment, especially in roles/industries that are likely to lead to progression and better paid employment Good careers advice in schools for low income pupils Moving from low paid to better paid work Improving money/credit management and avoiding debt Effective debt counselling
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Are our grants doing any good? Monitoring impact Grants directly to individuals We measure the impact of grants paid directly to individuals through an annual impact survey. We ask for details of their current situation (for example whether they are continuing in education or have found employment). This is undertaken nine months after the end of each academic year. It provides us with some evidence of whether the training or qualification we funded had any immediate effect on the grantee’s circumstances. We recognise the limits and snap-shot nature of this. The online survey is sent out by email and then followed up by ‘phone calls to non-respondents. Our response rate is around 50% (with a confidence level of 95% and margin of error of 8%). Of the 53% respondents in 2015/2016 89% had completed their course and 83% were in employment or further study. Grants to organisations Every grant we make to organisations is linked to specific outcomes and these form part of each Grant Agreement. We monitor how many grants achieve their agreed targets and we make project visits to all our multiyear projects. This year we reviewed 125 grants and found that 76% of organisations were successfully fulfilling 75% or more of the agreed outputs and outcomes. Other ways in which we ensure the greatest impact of our grantmaking include •
Being clear and specific in our published material: This helps potential applicants understand what we do and so reduces misunderstanding and unsuccessful applications
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Making sure applicants understand that our interest is in impact rather than activity
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We always keep our target beneficiaries in mind ‘How will X or Y help our beneficiaries escape generational poverty and its corrosive impact?’ is the question we ask when considering every grant. Specifically, ‘is this likely to increase the likelihood of long-term employability?’
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New donor, new grants programme The year saw preparations for a new grants programme. It was made possible by the generosity of a local donor who made an initial gift as a means of bringing forward a programme she intends to fund through a bequest in her Will. The fund provides bursaries to BME Lambeth pupils from low income households who gain a place at a Russell Group University to study for a first degree. The first Townsend Bursaries have been awarded and each is worth £9000 over three years. The donor had first intended to establish a new charity but was delighted to discover that the Foundation could help her achieve her goal without the considerable costs of setting up and administering a new legal structure. She has joined the number of donors who over the centuries have contributed to our present day charities. We welcome enquiries from others who may be thinking of leaving a legacy or making a gift to a local charity. We can offer the Foundation’s skills and knowledge without any kind of administrative or other fee. Please contact the Director or Finance Manager.
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Larger grants 2015/2016 198 Contemporary Arts And Learning Hustlebucks Youth Enterprise £25,000 Ace of Clubs Ace Education £15,000 ADP Consultancy Capacity Building Programme 2014-16 £49,957 Advance 360 Degrees The Best Year Yet Project £20,000 Advising London Financially Educating Lambeth £20,000 Alford House Targeted Youth Support £15,500 Brixton Learning Collaborative Community Partnership Manager £21,976 Cambridge House Stand-Up Lambeth £15,000 CEF Lyncx Community After School Clubs £25,000 Centre 70 Advice Centre Advice Worker (2014-2016) £52,455 Centrepoint Soho Limited Workwise £20,000 Chocolate Films Ltd How To Succeed in Maths and English film making project £18,861 Communities Welfare Network Accredited vocational training in health and social care £17,496 Construction Youth Trust Budding Builders: Lambeth £21,769 Creative Sparkworks Learn2film2£arn £24,900 Ebony Horse Club Youth Worker £22,950 EFA London Learn Together ESOL for parents to support their child’s education £20,000 Evelyn Grace Academy Emotional Wellbeing and Therapeutic Support for Engagement £30,000 Evolve Housing and Support Money Mapping Programme £23,315 Family Lives Parents Together in Lambeth £19,986 Fotosynthesis CIC Developing Literacy and Numeracy Through Photography £13,865 Help for Carers Educational Support Worker £20,000 High Trees Community Development Trust Work Up £40,000 High Trees Community Development Trust Youth Employment Service £25,000 Home-Start Lambeth Start Right Project £25,000 IRMO English for Work £20,292 IRMO Improving the working lives and social mobility of Latin American migrants £40,000 Juvenis Positive Change £25,163 Knights Youth Centre TYLAP £18,979 Lifelong Family Links Life skills and employability project (special needs) £22,361 Lilian Baylis Technology School Subject Tutoring £30,000 London Music Masters Bridge Project Lambeth Hub £20,000 London Youth Build-it £20,000
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Morley College Parent Champion Volunteers £17,416 Music Therapy Lambeth Early Years Project £10,000 National Foundation for Youth Music Exchanging Notes £15,000 No. 1 Performing Arts (NOPA) Counselling Service £20,000 Norwood & Brixton Foodbank Provision of Advice Workers during Foodbank Sessions £25,000 One Planet Ventures Hatch Enterprise Incubator £25,000 Oval Learning Cluster ESOL classes for Cluster Parents £16,874 Oval Learning Cluster Parent Engagement Project £15,000 Ovalhouse Creative Employability and Young Associates programmes £25,000 Pegasus Opera Company Pegasus Opera Singing Academy £20,000 Photofusion Community Programmes Manager £19,990 Raw Material Music And Media Education Incubator Employment Programme £20,000 Remakery The Skills Programme and Alchemy Incubator Programme £15,000 Ripe Enterprises English & Employment Skills Academy £24,993 School-Home Support Lambeth Parental Engagement & Coaching Programme £20,198 SE1 United Ltd Upgrade Yourself £17,000 SHINE@Brixton Learning Collaborative SHINE on Saturdays £20,000 Shine@Clapham & Larkhall collaborative SHINE on Saturdays £13,000 Southside Young Leaders Academy Education Programme £20,000 Spiral Spiral Skills Programme £25,000 Springboard for Children Intensive literacy tuition £25,200 Springfield Community Flat Parent Support In Enabling EAL Children To Learn £20,000 St John’s Church, Waterloo The Bridge at Waterloo, Coding Unlocked £20,000 Stockwell Partnership Portuguese Advice & Capacity Building Project £20,000 Streatham Drop In Centre For Refugees & Asylum Seekers Refugee Families Learning £19,718 Streetscape Social Enterprise Ltd. Streetscape Apprenticeships/Taster Days £15,000 Thames Reach The Upwardly Mobile Network £40,000 The Ben Hollioake Learning Centre After School Education Scheme £20,000 The Creative Society Creative Careers Network £40,000 The Elmgreen School Promoting Engagement Through Wellbeing £18,921 The Hyde Group Stockwell Intensive Support Project £18,377 The Springboard Charity Into Work in Lambeth £20,000 The Springboard Charity Step Up: Career progression in hospitality £40,000
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Larger grants made in 2015/2016/continued The St Matthew’s Project Football Plus Scheme £20,000 The Trust Womens Project Women’s Group Worker £20,000 Timewise Foundation In Work Progression - Employer Engagement £17,000 Timewise Foundation Step Up: Tackling parents’ in-work poverty £40,000 Tomorrow’s People Trust Ltd Walcot Career/Employment Advice (2015-18) £50,000 Toucan Employment Lambeth NEET Employment Project £21,334 Tutors United The At Home Tutoring Programme £24,341 Walworth Garden Level 2 Work Based Horticulture £20,000 Windmill Cluster of Schools Community Partnership Manager Salary £17,200 Windsor Fellowship AIMS Programme £20,000
Ben Hollioake LearningCentre
Fotosynthesis Family Learning
Working With Men Transition Support Project for secondary school pupils £22,500
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How you can help in our work The most useful thing you can do for us is to make us known to individuals or organisations we may be able to help. Please tell them of our grantmaking programmes and point them to our website. Other ways of helping us in our work – •
Please tell us – of new opportunities in Lambeth to realise our ambition for lowincome residents. We keep alert to these but always welcome ideas and suggestions
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Follow Mr Walcot’s example – consider leaving a gift in your own Will, either to us or another charity of your choice. It is one of the best things we can do for our fellow citizens and future generations. Donations to our work can be made on line. We take nothing for administration and apply 100% of your gift to our grants programmes. With larger gifts and legacies you have the option of having your gift preserved and professionally managed and the income being used to fund valuable philanthropic work. We’ll be glad to tell you more. Please get in touch.
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Support us in other ways – you might be a business person able with our help to fund an apprenticeship for a local person, a Lambeth Councillor able to identify synergies between our work and that of the Council or perhaps someone who knows of other funders interested in partnering with us in specific projects. We value our independence but we also value cooperation where it helps us achieve our charitable purposes. If you have ideas or questions do please get in touch.
22 THEWALCOTFOUNDATION 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) Tonia Meade Grants Administrator (Mon-Wed) Ben Moss Estate Admin & PA (Mon-Tue) Teresa Priest Grants Officer 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
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