	1999 / 2000: A REVIEW
West London Initiative on Single Homelessness

INCOME

Our supporters: giving money…

Each year we need to raise some £28,000 to operate the Christmas Roof and £15,000 to run our Outreach service. So how do we raise the money?

We are keen to develop a broad income base and therefore approach a range of potential donors including:

charitable and grant making trusts;
groups and individuals; and
corporate sponsors, especially local businesses.

… and so much more

Although we need substantial sums of money to be able to provide our services, many of our supporters provide invaluable help in other ways. For example, the kind of help we normally receive with the Christmas Roof includes:

From groups and individuals: donations of food and clothing.
From corporate donors: a wide range of practical help including the loan of transit vans and portable shower units. We have even been donated a banner sign which welcomes visitors to the Roof.

Individual supporters

We rely on significant numbers of volunteers to provide our services. There are many other ways that individuals can help us, either on their own or as employees or members of groups such as churches, schools and clubs. For example:

Enlist the taxman to boost your contributions to WISH by up to 83%! All you need to do is to contribute to WISH through the Give As You Earn (GAYE) scheme which your employer can easily set up (we can arrange help with this if your employer needs it). This enables you to support WISH by highly tax-effective regular donations. For example: a basic rate tax payer donates £6.41 a month to WISH via GAYE. Instant tax relief is given so the donation only costs £5 a month. Until March 2003 the Government will add a further 10% (i.e. 64p) so for your £5 a month, WISH receives a total of £7.05. For higher rate tax payers, a donation of £5 a month net provides £9.17 income to WISH. Please contact us if you would like more information about how to make the Inland Revenue support our work!
Many employers make charitable donations. Companies are often most willing to support charities with which their own staff are involved and often provide £1 or more of additional funds for every £1 raised by staff.
Self-employed? We can help you set up a charity card account through the Charities Aid Foundation which provides similar tax relief to the GAYE scheme.
Do you have any contacts who could offer non-cash support, e.g. practical or logistical help with the Christmas Roof (especially in our search for a suitable site each year) and the Outreach Service?
You would be welcome to join our annual sponsored Riverside Ramble.

We are happy to discuss ways in which individuals and groups can help through other fund raising ideas and tax-effective donations, including: a Personal Charitable Trust (minimum amount £10,000 in a lump sum or by instalments) and legacies.

Putting it all to good use

While most people recognise that homelessness is a major problem, it is often hard to know how to help relieve the problem most effectively. So we are particularly keen to explain the work we do, how it is based on research which identifies real local needs, and how we deliver services cost effectively and with care and respect. For example, we arrange speakers and provide information to schools, churches and other groups that are interested in our work.

As a result, many of our donors and volunteers have supported us for several years and we look forward to this continuing. The problem of homelessness is not suddenly going to go away but at least our donors know that WISH will use their support to deliver services locally, efficiently and in a caring manner.

Looking ahead

Each year WISH needs the help of a growing number of volunteers to support the work and help raise the ever-increasing amounts of money needed.

To put this in perspective, current plans and proposals show our needs as:

Service	Cost	Volunteers
Christmas Roof	£28-30,000	400+
Outreach	£10-15,000	40-60
Breakfast Club	£3-6,000	50-75
All Night Café	£100-150,000	100-150

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WISH is a registered UK charity, No. 1052924