Small Charity Week is an annual celebration of the small charities making a huge difference to communities across the U.K. The campaign aims to amplify the messages and impact of small charities, support them in their invaluable work, and connect small charities with those who can strengthen them. When small charities are stronger, the communities they support are stronger too.
In the spirit of Small Charity Week, we are delighted to highlight the brilliant work of small charities in Bath & North East Somerset, by featuring several individual charity spotlights across the week of June 24th - 28th. By sharing their stories, we hope to support further recognition for the vital role small charities play, empower our members to have their voices heard, and celebrate their magnificent efforts.
We're approaching the end of Small Charity Week, but we still have two amazing local charities to showcase! Anna from Clean Slate Training & Employment was recently kind enough to chat with us about Clean Slate, to tell us more about the great work they do supporting low income household, the projects their currently working on, and the benefits and challenges of being a small charity. Read on to hear from Anna...
Can you tell us a little bit about your small charity?
Jeff Mitchell founded Clean Slate in 2006 and its' money skills initiative, Quids in! in 2008. He wanted to build on what he had learned as a MD at the Big issue which is that thousands of people just need the right support and the right opportunity to be able to help themselves back onto their feet. Since then Clean Slate and Quids In! have been supporting low income households around financial inclusion, digital inclusion and employability. In the last year we helped 937 people make total financial gains of £817,787.77.
Are you working on any big projects at the moment?
Apart from our Money guidance programme which includes support around digital inclusion and employability we are currently distributing supermarket vouchers to those of our clients in greatest need. This has been funded by B&NES Council via the Household Support Fund grant. Alongside this we are excited that soon some more of our coveted Peer Worker Placements on our Elements Programme will become available soon.
Have there been any accomplishments your charity is particularly proud of that you'd like to share?
Participants of our Elements Peer Worker Programme have been extremely successful recently in gaining employment after their work placement with us. We are extremely proud to say that currently 100% of our front line staff are former Peer workers helping others overcome tough times.
Other than volunteering and donating, what other ways can local people help support your charity's great work?
Sharing our success stories and keep referring households on a low income!
What are the benefits of being a small charity?
We are flexible and can adapt quickly to changing needs. When Covid hit we were able to re invent our 100% face to face service delivery to 100% remote delivery which allowed us to grow quickly across several regions in the UK. We have been working locally for a long time and understand the needs of each area we work from well. We have fantastic networks and developed amazing partnerships with other small and medium sized organisations over the years which we value highly.
What do you think are the main challenges facing small charities, and what could be done better to tackle these?
One word and that is FUNDING (long term, core etc)! The funding landscape has become incredibly competitive. It is very hard to plan long term if not impossible. Hanging on from one short term/unsecure contract to the next does not allow to offer security to our staff that we value so highly and as a result of that we loose well trained and incredible passionate staff members on a regular basis which are, in the middle of a recruitment crisis, very had to replace.
As a small charity, what is your favourite thing about being a 3SG member?
Being connected to all the other amazing organisations across B&NES, being kept up to date, the training and events organised. B&NES would not be the same without 3SG.
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Check out the Clean Slate Training and Employment website to learn more about what they do!
Find out more about Small Charity Week here: https://www.smallcharityweek.com/
Small Charity Week defines a small charity as a voluntary organisation with a social or charitable purpose with an annual income of less than £1 million. This includes registered charities, community groups, community interest companies (CICs) and other structures.
If your small charity would like to become a 3SG member, you can find more information here. Alternatively, please get in touch and we'd be happy to have a chat - contact@3sg.org.uk
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