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Raising Funds

We would like to thank everyone who has contributed to our fund raising - we could not run our activities without your support.

We need to raise around £35-40,000 each year to fund our summer activities. All of our fund raising is done by volunteers, as well as our charity administration, book keeping etc. This means that our overheads are low and around 95% of income is spent directly on providing fun leisure activities for our members. Around three quarters of this pays for the qualified and experienced staff who provide individual support, and we cannot reduce this cost without reducing the number of place available for local young people with special needs.

Some of our income comes from sponsored events, garage sales etc organised by local supporters. Another source of funding is contributions from parents, although we have no compulsory fee. However we rely on grants and donations for most of our funding and have been supported by many local and national organisations -

Find out more about the organisations that support us.

Our highest expense by far is wages for our team of qualified and experienced childcare staff, who provide an average of one-to-one care and support for our members, supported by volunteers. Sessions are carefully planned to ensure that every member will be fully supported and home visits are made to some members before activities begin.

Other costs include toys and equipment, fees for entertainers, accessible coaches and entrance fees for outings, insurance and other running costs.

It is becoming increasingly difficult to raise funds in the current economic climate and there is much less available from charitable foundations - as well as that, a large amount of lottery funding that would usually go to good causes is being diverted for the 2012 Olympics.

Due to uncertainty over future funding we will be running a reduced programme in 2010 and will not be able to accept any new members.

There are lots of ways that you can help us to raise funds, and some of them involve no additional effort or expense!

Find out how you can help

We welcome donations of any amount, online or by post.

Find out how to make a donation.