Themes

Introduction

We provide financial support to a number of carefully chosen Legacy Partners. Their work is aligned with at least one of of our “4 life themes” which are broad-reaching and we support many activities within each.

Our aim is to help our Partners build their capacity and sustainability and through their work, bring about ‘transformational’ change in the way care is provided. 

With this theme we are looking to support Charity Partners to provide access to community facilities offering support services that maintain, improve and advance the health and general welfare of people living with disabilities and/or long-term illnesses.

Grants will support:

• information providing, guidance, advice, training and moral and emotional support to individuals and their families and carers
• centres that provide clinical services including therapies and medical provision (e.g. physiotherapy, oxygen therapy, Pilates, music & movement and art therapy etc.) access to counselling and early intervention services
• independent hospices and care homes

Lifelites

Lifelites is a charity that donates specialist assistive technology packages to children with life-limiting conditions, through children’s palliative care services, across the British Isles. They are a great example of a charity in synergy with us that we have supported with an endowment which will give them certainty in their activities but also scope to build capacity over the coming years.

Thames Hospice

Thames Hospice provides hospice care for people aged 16 and over in Berkshire and South Bucks – local to us. We have been supporting them for many years and are proud to be a Founding Lifetime Patron having funded their Education and Learning Centre and a specialist Senior Palliative Nurse Prescriber training programme. This will see their nurses gain qualifications to be able to prescribe pain relieving medication to patients, without having to wait for a GP to be available, which is beneficial to both the patient requiring medication and the nurse who has previously had to take time out of their busy shift to travel to a pharmacist – sometimes out of hours.

Our Partners tell us that people living with disabilities and/or long-term illnesses would prefer to live at home and as independently as possible.  We fully support this and over the years have established relationships with many charities who, with our funding, have been able to make this happen. Together we have been able to change the day to day lives of people and support those who wish to remain living in their own home for as long as is practically possible. 

Grants will support:

• safe and independent access around the home
• equipment to aid getting in and out of chairs, beds and bathrooms easily and independently
• communication and access to the external community
• people to go outside, use community facilities and generally enjoy and feel part of family life

Whizz Kidz

Whizz Kidz provide high-quality, personalised equipment to young people who need wheelchairs. We have had a longstanding relationship with them and, over the years, have helped them to provide equipment which, in many cases, has truly been life changing. We rely on their expertise and love seeing the young people they help acquire the skills and confidence to inspire them to go further in life. Through our endowment we have asked that they focus on young people aged 17-25 to give them the means to be able to access further education and employment opportunities.

Friends of the Elderly

Friends of the Elderly is a long-established charity seeking to support and improve the lives of older people. They do this through their care home and day care services, dementia care and also through the grant programme they run to help those in financial difficulty who require assistance with paying unexpected bills, etc.

In 2022, following Trustees’ commitment, we provided them an endowment which they will use to expand their charitable activities.

Through this theme we wish to recognise the fantastic and hugely important work undertaken by the family care giver.  These people are the backbone of our society and the physical, emotional and financial consequences for them can be overwhelming without support.

Our Charity Partners provide facilities in the UK where either the person living with a disability or illness or their caregiver or, in some cases, the whole family, can go to access leisure activities or simply enjoy themselves relaxing or socialising with others in a similar situation.

Taking a short break from the responsibility of caring for someone in the knowledge they are safe and being well looked after has a hugely positive and immediate impact on all concerned. 

The Rose Road Association

Based in Southampton, Rose Road offer a number of direct care services across the surrounding counties to children and young people with severe physical or learning disabilities and/or autism.  These include respite breaks, community outreach, holiday activities and advice.

Having been a supporter of Rose Road since 2016 we have seen first hand the impact of their work and they were a natural choice as a recipient of an endowment which will allow them to move forward with their activities and aspirations.

Sebastians Action Trust

Sebastian’s Action Trust provides both planned and crisis respite family breaks at their flagship facility, The Bluebells, for seriously ill children and their families. These families and the huge sacrifices they have to make to their own needs are often overlooked.

Having supported them for a number of years, we know they passionately believe that all families in this situation should be able to have quality time together to relax, recharge and rebuild, never having to face life alone and ensuring that lives, however short, are lived to the full. They were one of our first recipients of an endowment and this has provided them certainty in their charitable spend for the coming years.

Transition helps people with disabilities develop the skills necessary to obtain meaningful employment or secure a home for life. Our funding under this theme will help our Legacy Partners work with individuals who aspire to achieve a greater degree of independence.

Grants will support:

• training, coaching and personal development to promote independent living and/or support to help people into paid work, vocational services or volunteering
• affordable housing and/or supported living in the local community
• day services supporting people with general life skills e.g. computing, cooking, arts and crafts

The Stable Family Home Trust

The Stable Family Home Trust (SFHT) and EGF have been partners in Transition for 6 years. Based in Dorset they provide a wide range of services to help people with disabilities to gain independent skills. In 2017 we  purchased a property in Bournemouth for them which would provide supported living accommodation for 5 adults to give them a home for life. The agreement we had with SFHT was that they rented the property back from us. Following its success, a further property was purchased in Southbourne in 2020 where another group of young people with disabilities now live together.

Once Trustees had made the commitment to us helping our Partners in a shorter timeframe, both houses were gifted to SFHT in 2022.  This is a great example of where the combination of the charity’s expertise, together with our funding has had a great outcome and truly transformed lives.

Watford Workshop

Watford Workshop has been providing supported employment, work and life skills training to adults with disabilities since 1964. They have been a partner of ours since 2017 and we have seen first hand how they improve the lives of many people. They believe having a job gives a person purpose, a reason to get up in the morning, helping to improve social skills and providing a social platform through which long term friendships can be built. Earlier this year, we awarded them an endowment which will allow them to keep doing what they do so well, with confidence, over the coming years.