The Cares Family
Ten years after our first grant, we are delighted to highlight the success of one of the many exceptional charities we’ve backed over the years: The Cares Family. Founded in 2011 in Camden and Islington, North London Cares was a community network recruiting young professionals to volunteer to support their older neighbours. With a little time, practical support and companionship, volunteers help to reduce loneliness and isolation and improve understanding across generations.
Back in 2013, The Fore offered £27,000 of unrestricted funding over three years to expand capacity and reach into new boroughs. Since then North London Cares has gone on to become a national charity, The Cares Family:
- Their revenue was £152,235 at the time of receiving support, it is now almost £1 million
- From 350 young people and 300 older neighbours, they now work with over 8,000 volunteers and older neighbours each year
- The Cares Family are winner of a Centre for Social Justice Award
- Founder Alex Smith was appointed an inaugural Obama Fellow in 2018
In addition to funding and access to training and support, founder Alex Smith met two trustees through one of our pitching events. “The Fore made all the difference: speaking at their networking event we met two new trustees. That made a significant difference to the success of South London Cares, and the whole Cares Family.” – Alex Smith, Founder & CEO of The Cares Family