Hicky Kingsbury, CEO, Kingston Charitable Foundation, brings us the highlights of their newly released Impact Report 2021.
“It’s been one year since we launched as an independent charity in January 2021 following on from eight wonderful years as a local fundraising project, Love Kingston. During those years we awarded 53 grants and Love Kingston remains at the heart of our organisation; as our community movement, as we all love Kingston.
In the 12 short months since launching, we are proud to have awarded 24 grants, which have directly benefitted 12,555 local people in our shared community. Each grant has supported Kingston residents in meaningful and tailored ways. We have carefully begun building our foundation for Kingston, in an agile and responsive way; seeking out traditionally harder to reach communities and listening to the quieter voices, building relationships and networks, in mutually supportive ways, across our whole borough.
Kingston is a lovely place to live and work, but like all London boroughs, it is mixed, with obvious pockets of deprivation and ill-health, juxtaposed with the more affluent. These inequalities have grown due to many factors, the most obvious and notable being the pandemic, and the cost-of-living crisis. These have affected everyone, but none more so than the most vulnerable. As a listening funder, we have a modern approach to charity, seeking out the need, and alleviating hardship. We believe that by being a catalyst for kick-starting the sharing economy, a fairer, healthier, happier borough need not be seen as a utopian impossibility.
Local needs have been identified through outreach, and ‘Meet the Funder’ events, and grants have been awarded expediently. For example, through Kingston Carers, Young Carers Network we learned that high numbers of local child carers were without warm coats, scarves, gloves, and school shoes; how could this even be possible? Our grant was awarded, and in their organisational bank account within 7 days, to remedy this.
Kingston Keralan Community project 2021
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We are now publishing our Impact Report 2021, it demonstrates what we have achieved in one short year, a year where we concurrently established our charity in all other areas from set up, to creating our website, branding, donor structure, and carefully recruiting our staff and the trustee team.
Hicky adds:
“I would like to take the opportunity to thank all the incredible local people that have helped get us to where we collectively are today, helping local projects, individuals and families in the ways they need us most. We hope that our report resonates with you and that having read more about our ethos and the work we have supported to date, it encourages you to support us now and, in the future, one in which we are all stronger together. Be the difference.
Join us to help achieve our vision of building a stronger community where everyone’s needs are met.”
You can help by giving a one-off or regular monthly donation here.
We are also always looking for in-kind, pro-bono support for our team, if this is something your company could help with, please let us know.
If you would like to contribute to our Endowment Fund, become a Friend of Kingston Charitable Foundation, or discuss leaving a Gift in your Will, please call me, Hicky Kingsbury on 020 8255 6056 or email hicky@kingstoncf.org.uk
For further information about Kingston Charitable Foundation, please visit our website www.kingstoncf.org.uk
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