News
Climbing Kilimanjaro for the Southend Fund
David Hurst, a long standing member of the Southend Fund committee, has successfully climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in aid of the Fund. He reached the summit on 25th June after 7 days of climbing.
Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain in Africa (19,500ft) and is certainly bigger than anything we have in Southend! David funded the trip himself but collected donations for the Fund via the Just Giving website. He has raised £2265 so far which with Gift Aid and Grassroots uplift should reach over £4000! You can still support his fantastic effort by visiting his JustGiving page by clicking here. Please help if you can and well done David.
Green Army Ltd Supports the Southend Fund
A group of teenagers have chosen to support the Southend Fund as part of their business initiative.
Southend High School for Boys (and Girls!) takes part in the Youth Enterprise Scheme where students are encouraged to set up their own companies and run business activities to learn about the world of commerce. One group called their company 'Green Army Ltd' and organised a dance event which included a performance by the former UK street dance champion Connor Turner and his 'champion in waiting' Alex Muirden.
The event was a great success but the question arose of what to do with the proceeds? Obviously the management commitee did not want to be accused of taking 'Fat Cat' bonuses nor did they want to pay enormous sums in Corporation Tax so they decided that a donation to a local charity was the best solution. The Southend Fund, with its offer of a Grassroots uplift was the obvious choice.
"We thought it would be a great investment"
Their Managing Director, Sophie Gaze, said "When we heard about the Southend Fund helping so many local charities and getting 50% extra from the Government we thought it would be great investment".
So far the company has donated £50 which will become £75 with Grassroots match funding but the young entrepreneurs have not stopped there and are now working on other match funding opportunities to increase the value of their gift.
Grassroots Grants - Southend gets a cash injection for Community Groups
Small charities in Southend stand to gain from a new £208,000 injection of cash. The money is coming from the Government and will be distributed by Essex Community Foundation and the Southend Fund until March 2011.
There could be more to come if generous local businesses and wealthy families are willing to donate funds which will be topped up by the Government's newly launched Grassroots Grants programme. The ambition is to create a £500,000 fund from which further grants to community organisations can be made in future.
Essex Community Foundation and the Southend Fund are calling on local people and businesses to back the Grassroots scheme, which will see the Government add 50% to all charitable donations destined for local communities.
The money is part of £130 million nationwide drive by the Government’s Office of the Third Sector to support thousands of voluntary and community groups throughout England. Under the Grassroots Grants scheme, local people can nearly double the value of their donations if they give through a long-term endowed fund to be set up by Essex Community Foundation. Returns from the fund will then be used to ensure that further grants are available, particularly once the current Government funding programme runs out in March 2011.
Howard Briggs, Chairman of the Southend Fund said: “This is great news for Southend. As well as asking groups seeking funding to contact us, we are also urging individuals and businesses who want to put something back into the local community to consider using this scheme. The match funding enables big returns on donations so there has never been a better and more cost effective way to give.”
How to give and almost double your gift.