The Present
Defining our Strategy
We are currently in the process of redefining how our charity works and what it does. For over 30 years we remained grounded to our origins. Times have now changed, the people we used to serve, and the way we served them are no longer relevant. So we have had a long hard look at ourselves and what the city needs and have begun to revamp the charity with that view in mind. Only 4 months ago, the trustee board came together to decide to continue the chartiy. As a group we decided a set of goals we would like to achive by the end of 2021, as well as also looking at how we can operate in a sustainable way going forward. An example of this is the way we have moved to using google workspace. Prior to workspace, the charity relied on in-person meeting twice a year, meaning our then core work (grant giving) could only happen twice a year. With our aim to become digital, we are now able to meet monthly. This is just part of the change process we are going through to better meet client needs
Making the Team
As part of our decision to continue the charity, it was decided that we would expand the board of trustees to inject some energy back into the charity. After much searching we were delighted to onboard our first female Trustee. We will continue to expand the team this coming year inline with the growth of the charity
Funding Opportunities
This year was the first year that we started to fund streams of work. This meaens budgeting quarterly to make sure our grants and scholarships are secured for the alotted time. Prior to this, all funding was done bi-annually via written appplications. As part of moving to a model of funding stream, it means we are able to run new projects to target new groups as we have better budget management. Ultimately it will be the youth of Coventry that benefit from this. Carry on reading below to see why Coventry needs us.
Why Coventry Needs Us
37%
Child Poverty
37% of Coventry children were living in
poverty when housing costs are taken
into account.
38%
Population under 24
With a city of over 370,000 we have a very young population clocking in at over 38% of the total.
13,700
Workless households with dependent children
This is the number of unemployed households that have children. Coventry has just over 140,000 households, and so this is a significant number.
23%
Child Obesity
Nearly a quarteer of the city’s children in year 6 were measured as ‘obese’, against 10.2% children in reception, far above teh national average.
2022 timeline
What's coming up this half of the year...
October
Small Grants Fund goes live
It's taken a few months but we are finally in a place where we are able to offer small grants to those who apply and meet the eligibility criteria
December
Scholarships Fund goes live
After hashing out ideas, we will be aiming to offer scholarships to various youth groups and sports clubs around Coventry to encourage them to take on children across all of coventry
TBC
We hope to have a handful of volunteers helping us carry out various activities and tasks across thrive.