The Fore Autumn 2023: New Grants
November 27, 2023
At The Fore we know that grassroots, local solutions are helping people thrive all over the UK and changing systems from the ground up. The charities and social enterprises we are funding have been set up by and for the communities they belong to. They all have innovative solutions to the problems we face and we will help them scale their impact and improve their resilience and sustainability.
This Autumn, twelve more exceptional organisations from Greater Manchester to London, to Wales, will receive unrestricted funding, introductions to our networks and our skilled volunteers, and access to our training and support.
Here are the stories of just three of the charities we will be supporting from this Autumn, into 2024 and beyond.
SAMEE
SAMEE equips people with disabilities and additional needs with essential skills to become successfully self-employed.
Set up in 2016 in Dorset by founders with personal experience of disabilities, to date SAMEE have supported over 1,400 people. Their award-winning Steps into Self-Employment course sees 75% of graduates move on to self-employment. Impact evaluation shows that for every £1 SAMEE spends, £115.92 of social value is created.
SAMEE has local authorities across the South West and South East queuing up to pay for their services, but they lack capacity. The Fore’s grant will pay for a Partnerships Manager to give the leadership space to develop a sustainable growth plan and to build the new relationships needed to make it happen. SAMEE plans to scale their unique offer across the South of England.
Youngwilders CIC
Youngwilders CIC (Community Interest Company) is the only youth-dedicated organisation in the UK restoring environments to create better places for plants, animals and people.
The UK’s ecological health is in the bottom 10% on earth. 80% of young people want to address this, but only 1 in 5 feel listened to. Youngwilders puts young people centre stage to complete nature recovery projects across the UK. In just 15 months they have developed a network of 350 young people and a waiting list of landowners and developers willing to pay for their environmental expertise.
With The Fore’s funding, they will hire an Outreach Officer to scale-up the number and diversity of young people involved. It will also give the inspiring young co-founders capacity to focus on further income generating opportunities.
YourStance CIC
Founded by A&E nurses and doctors in 2019 in response to the number of young people arriving in London hospitals with stab wounds, YourStance teaches those at risk of serious youth violence how to respond to an emergency.
YourStance have taught over 2,200 young people aged 11-25 in workshops across London. CPR and blood loss control training mean young people can save lives as zero responders before a first responder arrives. 14 London boroughs, Pentonville Prison and Arsenal Football Club are already involved with 10 more football clubs, NHS Trusts in Sheffield and Leeds, and Cambridge University waiting to partner.
Predominantly volunteer-led by NHS staff until now, The Fore’s funding will pay for staffing to allow the leaders time to focus on strategy and the commercial development of the organisation as it grows.