wintercomfort for the homeless
DESCRIPTION
This presentation was part of the NCVO event - 'It's Our Community research workshop - East of England'. This event was organised by NCVO, BIG Society CIC and Peterborough Council for Voluntary Service, to look at examples of community led funding. Rachell Newell (Wintercomfort for the homeless Social Enterprise Manager) gave a presentation at the workshop discussing the background of Wintercomfort and the homelessness situation. You can find out more about NCVO events on the European Funding Network website: http://europeanfundingnetwork.eu/events/ncvo-eventTRANSCRIPT
‘Its Our Community’ Research Workshop 10 December 2013
Rachel NewellSocial Enterprise Manager
Tel. 07824 [email protected]
About usMission: Wintercomfort supports those with experience of homelessness by offering essential welfare services and social, learning and work opportunities to enable them to achieve their potential.
Brief History: Began as double decker bus in 1985 serving soup in the city centre. In 1989 the name Wintercomfort was adopted and set up an evening service providing food and shelter, run by volunteers.Became an official charity in 1991 with Henry Rothschild as its first chairman.1n 1993 Overstream House was purchased after extensive refurbishment and opened for business on 12 November 1994.
Keeping it Real
• Rough sleepers have an average life expectancy of just 42 years.
• People who sleep rough are 35 times more likely to commit suicide than the general population.
• The annual council street count said there were 9 rough sleepers on 19 November in Cambridge but we served 18 breakfasts to rough sleepers.
What we do now: Welfare Services
• 8.30-10am: hot breakfast (free to rough sleepers), showers, laundry services.
• Last year we served 5556 hot breakfasts to 368 people.
Learning and Development10am-3.30pm: learning and development activities including art activities, literacy, numeracy, ICT session, job club, ESOL, cooking classes, sport, DIY sessions, gardening team.
316 people accessed service last year
Social EnterprisesFood4Food CaféFood4Food CateringWinterwillow (ended)Cleaning Services (2014!)
We have delivered 244 buffets in the last year to 5597 people. Our traded income from buffets was £35,850
www.food4food.org.uk www.food4foodcafe.org.uk
Funding• April 2012 - March 2013: 488K• 28% of our income is from statutory funding• 31% individual donors and trusts
Income (£k) Statutory
Fundraised
Donations
Other
Social Enterprise traded income
Social Enterprise Grant income
Social Enterprise Fundraising
Volunteers• Some regular volunteers,
some one-off• Total no. of volunteers in
last year: 72• Peak at Christmas• Help with numerous
jobs: laundry, job applications, counselling sessions, running the cafe, database.
ChallengesCompetition
for funds
External economy:
Funding Cuts, less personal
giving
Doing versus showing impact
Lack of investment in
capital items/resources
Fluctuating Volunteers
Balancing running social
enterprise as a business
verses social outcomes
Public appeal of the cause
(homelessness)
Increased demand
Service User involvement in decision
making
Additional challenges with social enterprises
• Employing former service-users.• Balancing business decisions for profit verses
for social impact.• Fundraising asks as expected to be sustainable• Lots of capital start up funding available but
less revenue funding.
