Neath Port Talbot, Wales

Posted on Thu 19 January 2012

About

The search for funding to enable sustainability at NPT Care and Repair.

The team at NPT are diligent in their use of the FST funding and have with careful stewardship managed to extend the period of use of the monies, which should cease in February 2011, but will be utilised to fund the Care and Repair Trainee programme delivered via the Helping hands Home Maintenance Scheme for a limited period going forward. They have also managed to reserve some funds from other funding streams which will further extend the life of this project. However the funding from Fair Share Trust is due to finish and other funding has been sought to support elements of the project going forward. An application was made to The Big Lottery People and Places grant scheme, for £405,005 to cover the costs of the HHHMS project in its entirety, bearing in mind feedback which had been received from a previous failed application.

Unfortunately, despite consultation with the Big Lottery team at various stages of the application with encouragement from their grants team that the application was progressing. The final decision was to reject. The feedback given indicated that the application was too large, and covered existing work with no new innovative strands to their work. The model used by HHHMS has been very successful and whilst there have been minor modifications as dictated by the levels of demand for the service, it is a case of if it’s not broken don’t fix it. The programme is engaging young people with opportunities to learn practical gardening and home maintenance skills which makes them far more employable in this current difficult financial climate, coupled to meeting the need of a disadvantaged section of the community in that the repairs and gardening clients are the elderly and disabled.

This is never going to be a self sustaining model as the work they carry out and the organisations charitable objects mean it focuses on meeting the needs of the section of the Neath Port Talbot community who can’t afford to pay for traditional builder and gardening services and the organisation would not want to challenge or damage the business opportunities for the smaller businesses offering these services. The project is actively identifying other funders to approach with a slightly different model and has also begun to consider a social enterprise approach to ensure that they can continue to programme which has over the period of the funding from Fair Share trust made a difference to over 80 direct beneficiaries (trainees) and approximately 10500 have benefitted from the work carried out by the trainees.

The lesson learned for the Care and Repair team is to have more than 1 iron in the fire, and have multiple applications to many funders to ensure that the project can continue. This of course is time consuming and not guaranteed, and could potentially use resources which are needed to develop the new strands of work which will be attractive to funders. Very much a catch 22 situation. Care and repair are a great organisation as is confirmed by the testimonies of their clients in regard to the work carried out and the NPT team who work hard to deliver this service.

 

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