Welcoming our new Corporate Partner, Pico Technology
We are absolutely delighted to welcome our new corporate partner, Pico Technology, who has chosen Home-Start Royston, Buntingford & South Cambridgeshire to be one of their charity partners. Pico Technology, who have supported Home-Start for a number of years including funding an annual outing for the families we are working with, have increased their donation amount, which they hope will be an annual donation, providing funds are available.
We asked Pico why they chose Home-Start Royston, Buntingford & South Cambridgeshire and they told us:
Home-Start believes that children need a happy and secure childhood and that parents play the key role in giving their children a good start in life and helping them to achieve their full potential. This mission resonates with Pico as we understand how important it is to invest in our community and how helping children and families plays a key role in improving the life of future generations.
Whilst the pandemic has shown how essential charities are within their communities, there is little doubt that challenges, including generating income and financial sustainability continue to have a big impact on the planning and delivery of services. And so for Home-Start, this kind of support from a prominent local business is crucial in terms of survival in the current challenging charity sector climate.
Why Corporate Funding is Important
Corporate partnerships like this one with Pico Technology are important for a number of reasons. They provide another platform to promote awareness of our services and the support we offer to our local community. They help to raise our profile, offering increased exposure to other potential businesses, philanthropists or individuals who may want to support our cause in many different ways – attending our events, volunteering, donating – money, time, resources or skills.
Navigating the rocky road of the charity sector requires charities to be flexible and responsive. In order to achieve this, charities need to be able to adapt and change, reflecting the changing requirements of those people in the local community that they are supporting. Regular planned income enables this kind of planning and development, meaning we can listen to our families and volunteers and help provide the services that they say will make a difference to them.
What does Home-Start do with this kind of Funding?
Over the last year, we have set up a new Family Support Group in the South Cambridgeshire area. This group, which is now thriving, has provided an important opportunity for families to come together in a safe place, supporting children’s development, learning and early socialisation.
Although our charity relies on the support of local volunteers in order for us to fulfil our aims, running a voluntary organisation still incurs costs. Each of our three Family Support Groups cost around £9k to run per year. Our Home-Visiting service, which provides weekly visits to a family from a trained volunteer costs around £1.5k per family, for 9 months of support. It costs around £400 to recruit and train a new home-visiting volunteer and we also plan and deliver ongoing training and development for all of our volunteers, alongside regularly training new volunteers. Ongoing funding is vital in ensuring these crucial services remain available for local families.
Could you get involved?
We are always looking for new opportunities to partner with local businesses so we can make a difference together in our local community. HSRBSC are an established charity having operated in the local area for 40 years, successfully transforming the lives of thousands of children.
Partnering with a charity like Home-Start provides a sense of reward and satisfaction that you are giving back to your community. Giving back to your immediate community will help local people notice the effort you are putting in to try and improve their community, which will raise the reputation of your business locally. And you never know; some of your employees may have benefitted from support from Home-Start, or know family members or friends that have.
Giving to charity makes your business look good to the public too. According to a report carried out by The Charities Aid Foundation (CORPORATE GIVING BY THE FTSE 100): “Half of British adults (51%) would be more inclined to buy a product or use a service from a company that donates to charitable causes and 45% would be more inclined to work for a business if it donates to charitable causes.”
.So please get in touch today if you would like to find out more about our charity and how we can work together to make a difference to local children and parents in our shared community.
Together we can make a positive change in the lives of children – because childhood can’t wait.