Small Grants Programme
Read about: Why we help and The difference it makes
Our Small Grants programme provides a high quality, personal, and fast response to families living in crisis, when there is no one else that can help. Families living in poverty in the UK can often lack basic items such as a bed, a cooker, a fridge-freezer or a washing machine. Providing these through our grants can offer relief from a critical situation. Working with over 5000 voluntary sector or local authority partners across the UK, we are able to target support at those most in need: children and young people living with severe medical, emotional, social and financial issues.
How to Apply
As part of our Small Grants Programme, Buttle UK delivers Emergency Essentials grants.
3 out of every 10 children in Britain live in poverty.
Social difficulties such as domestic violence, drug and alcohol misuse, homelessness, and mental health problems, are all worsened by financial hardship. Thousands of children across the UK are living without a bed to sleep on, or a hot home cooked meal due to being without basic items we take for granted.
Sleeping on the floor or on a broken or soiled bed can affect a child’s mental, physical and emotional well-being. They are less able to concentrate at school all day due to a lack of sleep, and may fall asleep in class - each of these outcomes may have a lasting effect on the child’s education, stability and happiness. £150 can buy a bed for a child, it will help them sleep better so they can wake up rested for the day ahead.
Without a fridge or a freezer families cannot keep food fresh or shop in quantity. Having to shop on a daily basis makes it harder to budget on a very low income, when it is already difficult to make ends meet. Without a cooker in the home children often have to rely on microwave meals, cold sandwiches or unhealthy take-aways. This unbalanced diet lacks the necessary nutrition needed to aid a child's development and allow them to thrive. £300 can buy a fridge-freezer or a cooker for a family to enable them to prepare healthy, fresh and hot meals for their children.
Buttle UK receives an increasing number of applications for help each year; in 2009-2010 alone we assessed nearly 15,000 applications for support, an increase of over 20% from the previous year. With the financial crisis of 2009, government cuts in 2010 and economic uncertainty for 2011, we know we will continue to receive more and more applications from families living in increasing poverty.
The difference it makes:
Buttle UK is often the last resort for families struggling to provide a basic
standard of living for their children. Providing something like a cooker will not resolve the poverty in which they are living, but it does offer relief from the multiple pressures facing families living in these situations. In 2009–2010 Buttle UK made 8,887 awards touching the lives of nearly 20,000 individual children and young people.
We are constantly improving our systems. Our grant application process is now online, meaning that we can, in an emergency situation, turn around an application in a matter of days. We work with over 5000 referral agencies supporting vulnerable families, which means that we have extensive coverage across the UK. Through their local knowledge we target funds to those that are most in need, and through a trusted source. Our relationship with companies like Comet Plc mean that we can supply competitively priced, new and reliable goods directly to the families' homes. The organisations we work with tell us about the difference the grants make:
"We work with some of the most vulnerable people in the community and the support from charities like yourselves is gratefully received by all our clients. It has changed so many peoples life for the better."
“On behalf of the service user and myself thank you so much Frank Buttle Trust. The award for the washing machine will take some pressure off this family, who have had so many challenges; your help is invaluable to those who genuinely struggle in life."
Thank You:
"I would just like to thank-you so much for the cooker that you supplied for me, without such help from Trusts like yourselves I don’t know where we would be! The initial trauma of finding out that your child has cancer is daunting enough but then you have the added worry of how you will cope financially now your world has been turned upside down, and may never be the same again.
Before my daughter's diagnosis I am the first to admit how ignorant/blind to the fantastic work you do, however things happen for a reason and it’s my intention to never to fall into that trap again and to let people know just how important and precious the work you do is. Once again I would like to thank you on behalf of me and my daughter."
“Earlier this year I managed to get out of a violent relationship. My children and I were homeless and were moved around by the council for around 5 weeks. We have been lucky enough to be re-housed and managed to keep our belongings but had no cooker and no money to buy one. It has not been easy to look after my two boys (aged 10 and 8) but I am getting stronger daily because of the support of friends, family and other agencies. The children and I were so excited when the cooker arrived yesterday and have already had two proper dinners and made cakes. It makes such a difference to the children to have proper home cooked meals and is so much better for them too. The health, financial and even social benefits of having the cooker have already been felt and we feel that this will only continue."
Buttle UK would like to acknowledge and thank all of the individuals and organisations that have supported this Programme.
