About Us
Grassroots Funds
Making A Difference
Ways To Give
Apply For A Grant
Professional Advisors
Foundation News
Campaigns |
 |
 . |
In November 2003 the couple approached us with a new request. They were interested in the possibility of establishing additional funds to ease the path of a person who has spent most of their life in care to attend university. They asked if we could do some initial research into this area so that they could make an informed decision about how they could go about setting up this new fund.
They felt that a young person who does well at school and has ambition but who has no home or family support would be reluctant to undertake the level of debt involved in pursuing further/higher education. They asked for further information on government and local authority funding available to support higher education for people who have been in care and if we could use our contacts to find eligible people to support. We were only too happy to help and set about gathering some facts immediately.
As we already operate funds that support young people in the care system and young people in general with grants for education and training, we already had a lot of information at hand and emailed the couple back with some initial thoughts on how to proceed. We arranged a meeting to discuss the fund set up in detail and agreed to look into the subject further before we met.
We used our contacts in the voluntary sector whose projects provide support for young people in care and young homeless people. They were able to inform us of the current support offered by local authorities and government funding and also other voluntary and community organisations that offer support in the form of grants, loans, counselling and mentoring. We were also able to talk to our contacts in Durham County Council and gather some statistics on how many care leavers there are in the county each year and how many actually go into higher education. This research helped to identify two possible young applicants from Social Services in Darlington who are waiting for their A level results.
We met with the couple to discuss our findings and make firm arrangements to set up the fund to support young people in care to access university education. It operates as a revenue fund and has an annual budget of £3000, plus gift aid; they wanted it to be as flexible as possible to allow them to give as much or as little to each person on a case-by-case basis. Once again after the meeting we wrote to the couple to confirm details of the meeting and the criteria of the fund. This additional element also comes under the remit of the Wright Funk Fund.
Applicants for this fund would need to provide us with receipts as proof of
spending the grant for the purpose it was given and if appropriate we would
ask for photographs of purchases or activities undertaken. As these grants
are being given over more than one year, we would want an annual report and
progress update from the individual, which would explain how they have benefited
from the grant, what difference it has made to them, and a general comment
on the progress of their education, plus a reference from their main tutor.
