The Equilibrium Foundation makes a huge difference once again

In 2021, The Equilibrium Foundation gave away an incredible £65,000 to several well deserved charities, in addition to regular grants through our community support scheme and other activities.

Hear what some of the charities had to say about the grant they received, what difference it has made and how they rate us!

Emmeline’s Pantry 

Emmeline’s Pantry is a charity run by women for women in need, ensuring they are provided with the best possible support. Emmeline’s Pantry helps women and their families access the things they need most, including food, toiletries, baby equipment and clothes.

• Grant spent on: Buying food to fill gaps of premium food items. 

• Difference it made: It ensured we could support all the referrals we received and didn’t have to turn anyone away. 

“The donation came with no stress which is important to us as we continue to experience extremely high levels of referrals.”   

The Booth Centre 

The Booth Centre is a community centre run with people affected by homelessness. The centre provides a warm welcome, an opportunity to belong, to gain a purpose and rebuild lives.

• Grant spent on: Helping to deliver a range of services for people affected by homelessness. These include:

– Advice referral clinic that signposts visitors to visiting agencies and other support services e.g. housing advice, benefits advice, mental and physical healthcare, and immigration support for asylum seekers.
– Cafe which serves hot breakfast and lunch every weekday, all freshly made on site, ensuring that visitors have at least two of their recommended five-a-day.
– Health and wellbeing activity programmes, from arts and creative workshops to a range of regular sports activities and a weekly philosophy class, these are a great way for visitors to meet new people, make new friends and, in doing so, improve their physical and mental wellbeing.

Ultimately, it is through this combination of services and activities that we are able to not only support people into accommodation, but also to address underlying issues to prevent them from falling back into it. 

• Difference it made: Every year, we welcome approximately 1000 individuals to the centre, with an average of 80 people attending each day (Mon – Fri). In 2021/22, we helped:

“We are incredibly grateful to The Equilibrium Foundation for its support of Booth Centre, ensuring that we can continue to support those affected by homelessness at a time when our services are being called upon by increasing numbers of people.

“Thank you to everyone who made your donation possible. The work you enabled not only made a difference but, for many, it was life changing.”

Friends For Leisure 

Friends for leisure provides disabled children in Cheshire East with the opportunities to have fun, make friends and do the everyday things that other children and young people take for granted.

• Grant spent on: A variety of costs including volunteer expenses, website development, direct service delivery and marketing our services. 

• Difference it made: Helped us work with over 250 registered participants across Cheshire East. We supported these children and young people with disabilities to enjoy leisure opportunities, make friends, feel more independent and build confidence and self-esteem. 100% of our children and young people said they feel less lonely as a result of coming to our youth groups/activities and/or 1-to-1 volunteer befrienders, and 94% said they feel more confident. At the same time, hundreds of parents and carers benefited from much needed respite from their caring roles. More than 60 young volunteers helped to support all of this work and they gained their own sets of skills and experience for the future. 

“Because of your generosity, but also enthusiasm from staff. Following the grant, we then had a team of Equilibrium staff come and help redecorate part of our office which looked amazing. They were brilliant! 

“The Equilibrium Foundation funded Friends for Leisure at a time when there was so much economic uncertainty during the pandemic. This has been fundamental in helping us keep our doors open and deliver a variety of activities to reduce social isolation for local children and young people with disabilities and their families.” 

Norbrook Youth Club

Norbrook Youth Club is a multi-purpose youth facility and community centre in Northern Moor, Wythenshawe.

• Grant spent on: Purchasing new games consoles, new controllers and new games. We have also used the funding for other equipment across the club for the art room, such as resources and outdoor sports resources. The most important investment has been the CCTV which has been a fantastic help in protecting the premises and those using it.

• Difference it made: More exciting activities and more new members. The resources have allowed youth workers to deliver activities using the new equipment. We have also used the CCTV for a recent incident where we were able to identify someone who caused damage to the front doors, and they were then interviewed by Greater Manchester Police. 

“Your team came and took part in some really valuable volunteering and the 5k was a big bonus to complement that. 

“Equilibrium recognises the importance of putting something back into the community. The impact has been incredible for our club and we would welcome you back any day of the week.” 

Little Hearts Matter

Little hearts matter is the only national UK charity offering specialised support to anyone affected by the diagnosis of single ventricle heart condition.

• Grant spent on: Helping to provide our comprehensive support service for families affected by half a working heart. This includes our support line, online group and information publications available from the point of diagnosis (often antenatal). For the first time since 2019, we were able to host our in-person open day; a day of educational sessions, networking and friendship for families. We also held an activity weekend for teens, where they were able to meet others with similar conditions, take part in adventurous activities safely and learn about managing their condition. 

• Difference it made: Helped us continue to be there for every family that needs us. As you will know from the news, this year it has remained difficult for charities to raise funds and the post-covid recovery has not been as swift as we had hoped. The grant has helped us to ensure that we can continue providing our telephone support line, online support groups and create new animations and publications. Creating new animations has been hugely helpful for parents and children to visually understand how their heart/circulation is different and medical professionals have now started using this too. Our membership has continued to grow as more families receive a diagnosis – at the time of writing, we are supporting over 7,000 individuals. 

“The process was smooth and didn’t require excessive amounts of work on our part (especially given that it’s a relatively large amount). Everyone that we corresponded with was very friendly and helpful. Thank you. 

“The grant we received from the Equilibrium made a huge difference in enabling us to keep supporting our beneficiaries. Living with a life-limiting condition is incredibly isolating and difficult, and it’s only thanks to the support of organisations such as The Equilibrium Foundation that we can continue to ensure that families have somewhere to turn.”

Do you know of a not-for-profit organisation that could benefit from the community support scheme grant? Click here to find out more about the eligibility criteria and to access the application form.

If you have any queries about our community support scheme, please do not hesitate to get in touch at charity@equilibrium.co.uk and we will be happy to assist.

The submission deadlines for 2023 are: Sunday 5 March and Sunday 3 September.