Families for individual Need and Dignity (FiND) was registered in 2001 by parents who could not get access to the services they and their children required. Initially the charity provided activities during school holidays for young people over 12 who have learning disabilities. Since then they have extended their services to adults, matching everyone who attends to a key worker through their person-centred approach, as well as running services for adults with learning disabilities and autism.

FiND was looking to raise £150,000 to make their church premises fit for purpose, so they could continue to offer this vital service. They approached the Smile Community Hive Team for fundraising support, an area in which they did not have any experience. Over the course of several visits, Helen from the Hive Team provided support and guidance throughout the process and ensured that the charity had the correct policies, procedures and financial management tools in place and helped develop a funding strategy.

A key part of making the application successful was ensuring that their application was people-led and highlight the needs of their service users. It also needed to demonstrate a robust business pan and present their information in a way that highlighted the differences the project would make.

Thanks to the hard work from the team at FiND and support from Smile Community Hive, their application to Help for Health was successful and they secured £80,000 (the maximum amount they could apply for). They have also received a pledge of £20,000 from the Bailey Thomas Trust.

Thanks to these big wins, the scope for potential funding has increased even further. Their success has opened up more funding opportunities to apply to trusts that only accept application once 50% of the total has already been pledged.

Conrad Thompson, Services Support Manager said “We are delighted that we are in reaching distance of our target…would like to thank you for the support and advice, it played a huge part in us being successful.”

Helen Rhodes, from Smile said; “At Smile  we look at and organisation holistically and ensure an organisation has got everything in place and is fit for purpose., before they start fundraising. We then  provide  the skills needed to develop a good project and write a good application. And the knowledge of appropriate funding that’s available.

The Smile Community Hive Team provide free funding support, training and guidance to groups and charities of all sizes and needs within the East Riding of Yorkshire. You can get in touch with us by calling 01482 590270 or emailing hive@heysmilefoundation.org.