Core Costs Grant
Briefly describe the overall aims of your organisation and the activities you carry out.
BearCat Collective have been running swap-shops on a pop-up basis as part of many other community activities at various village halls, fetes and shows around North Dorset & South Somerset for the last ten years. We redistribute an average of 4tonnes of reused items per month, every month, through The Honesty Jar project (Henstridge, Somerset BA8 0SA) which is the new permanent base for our community swap-shop reuse station - where anyone can take items and exchange them, either for other things or a voluntary financial contribution. Once running costs are covered, profits fund training sessions for home carers and youth groups on topics such as autistic spectrum disorder, dementia awareness, mental health and conflict management, family friendly repair / craft workshops and community live music events. Items are also gifted to those in need through organisations supporting homelessness, rehabilitation, isolation, hardship and
refugees, including local doctors surgeries, Help & Care, The Hidden Needs Trust, The Hub Yeovil, Gateway Church Yeovil and Friends of Guys Marsh, to mention a few. There are 4 paid part time roles in the project, we have currently 36 active regular local volunteers, many of whom walk and cycle to the project and another 40 ad-hoc volunteers.
How will you use this grant, what difference will it make to the people you support and how you support them?
The grant will allow us to sustain our continued support to local families and individuals six days per week 10am-4pm, providing safe access to low cost / free clothes, shoes, school uniform, games, books, stationery, toys, kitchen and homewares. Our usual self-funding model is drastically affected by the pandemic. People’s income and access to basic facilities has reduced, such as the library, being in school, or playing with friends, therefore need for our facilities and services has increased, particularly to for those isolating and home-schooling. We provide items free of charge to anyone in need, without judgement or discrimination. Many of our volunteers are home-carers, have mental and physical health challenges, or are from disadvantaged groups. We ensure a
flexible rota and inclusive environment, with a strong emphasis on mutual support. Some volunteers are of high school age, working alongside older and more experienced people is of great value to both parties. We are proud that the project gives access to confidence-building opportunities and an improved sense of safety, friendship, purpose, trust, equality, community, learning and possibility. Being a small community-lead organisation allows us to respond quickly to change; for example, we have altered layout to allow space for safe social distancing, provided PPE & sanitising stations for volunteers, we have also built a permanent outside shelter to be able to quarantine donated goods, allowing us to remain operational when most similar facilities have unfortunately had to close, this has all however been a burden on our finances.
Who do you support and what issues and/or disadvantages do they face?
We support local families and individuals through The Honesty Jar project and in partnership with other not-for-profit and community groups / organisations. When COVID restrictions ease up, in addition to this we will be able to resume face to face training and events in local village halls and community venues, which allows people who do not use technology, or are in more isolated rural areas to access our services. We often hear that it is a great comfort for peoples mental health knowing that items from a deceased loved-one and childhood possessions will be rehomed and repurposed respectfully within the local community. Some examples: Through church groups and refuges we are able to help those fleeing domestic abuse and new parents with baby supplies. Many people are referred to us with an urgent need caused by such things as house fire, eviction, rehoming and illness. We are able to help older people with low
funds have access to home exercise equipment. Local families have struggled to access affordable educational games, books and other home-schooling resources, as travel is restricted and many low cost shops supplying used goods are closed since the first lockdown, we have maintained a click and collect service 5/6 days per week throughout, offering these items free of charge either from the gate, or in our large carpark.
What will the money be spent on? Provide us with a simple breakdown of costs.
We would use the grant to cover basic operating costs of The Honesty Jar project for three months. Monthly core costs based on figures for year 2020:- Insurance £36, Admin £113, Rent 610 = total £759 per month. Total for three months = £2,2 77. We have an average of 40 visitors per day six days a week, 240 per week, = 3120 people in a three month period. From 1st Jan 2020 to present day our takings in the jar have been just 11% of what we would usually expect for 43% of this period; we have been open as usual for 222 working days with an average of £71 received, and operating within lockdown restrictions for 96 working days with an average of £8 received in the jar, a reduction of £63 per day. Our focus in on sustainability and re-use, so our total costs are kept to a minimum. As well as rent, insurance and office costs as above; our other costs include support for our volunteers with PPE and refreshments, also advertising for our services, staffing, storage, software, cleaning supplies, training, maintenance, building and shop-fittings, which we will continue to cover using reserves.
Please tell us the project start/end dates or the period this funding would cover, along with anything else you would like to add in support of your application?
The Honesty Jar project is run by BearCat Collective; a not for profit constituted group started in December 2009, that has been running swap-shops and community events locally for 10 years (since August 2010). Our first permanent home 'The Honesty Jar' opened its doors in November 2019 at The Toy Barn in Sherborne, moving to larger, purpose-built premises with improved access in Henstridge during March 2020; ten days before the first lockdown. This is an ongoing project with a long term lease. Future plans include groundworks for an outside family area to further a safe mental and physical haven with a socially distanced communal space from spring 2021, eventually to be used for community workshops and events. Many charity shops have been closed down or not accepting donations, so access to low cost items, and facilities to pass on reusable items is drastically limited, forcing many people to resort to using local waste facilities, sending valuable resources to landfill and increasing the burden on our local council services. Since March 2020 we have invested additional time and resources, transferring our community mental health training sessions and crisis coaching to run online. We are committed to keeping our services running and accessible, despite the current additional logistical and financial challenges. Many personal reviews from customers, volunteers and local organisation leaders can be found on our website.
Briefly describe the overall aims of your organisation and the activities you carry out.
BearCat Collective have been running swap-shops on a pop-up basis as part of many other community activities at various village halls, fetes and shows around North Dorset & South Somerset for the last ten years. We redistribute an average of 4tonnes of reused items per month, every month, through The Honesty Jar project (Henstridge, Somerset BA8 0SA) which is the new permanent base for our community swap-shop reuse station - where anyone can take items and exchange them, either for other things or a voluntary financial contribution. Once running costs are covered, profits fund training sessions for home carers and youth groups on topics such as autistic spectrum disorder, dementia awareness, mental health and conflict management, family friendly repair / craft workshops and community live music events. Items are also gifted to those in need through organisations supporting homelessness, rehabilitation, isolation, hardship and
refugees, including local doctors surgeries, Help & Care, The Hidden Needs Trust, The Hub Yeovil, Gateway Church Yeovil and Friends of Guys Marsh, to mention a few. There are 4 paid part time roles in the project, we have currently 36 active regular local volunteers, many of whom walk and cycle to the project and another 40 ad-hoc volunteers.
How will you use this grant, what difference will it make to the people you support and how you support them?
The grant will allow us to sustain our continued support to local families and individuals six days per week 10am-4pm, providing safe access to low cost / free clothes, shoes, school uniform, games, books, stationery, toys, kitchen and homewares. Our usual self-funding model is drastically affected by the pandemic. People’s income and access to basic facilities has reduced, such as the library, being in school, or playing with friends, therefore need for our facilities and services has increased, particularly to for those isolating and home-schooling. We provide items free of charge to anyone in need, without judgement or discrimination. Many of our volunteers are home-carers, have mental and physical health challenges, or are from disadvantaged groups. We ensure a
flexible rota and inclusive environment, with a strong emphasis on mutual support. Some volunteers are of high school age, working alongside older and more experienced people is of great value to both parties. We are proud that the project gives access to confidence-building opportunities and an improved sense of safety, friendship, purpose, trust, equality, community, learning and possibility. Being a small community-lead organisation allows us to respond quickly to change; for example, we have altered layout to allow space for safe social distancing, provided PPE & sanitising stations for volunteers, we have also built a permanent outside shelter to be able to quarantine donated goods, allowing us to remain operational when most similar facilities have unfortunately had to close, this has all however been a burden on our finances.
Who do you support and what issues and/or disadvantages do they face?
We support local families and individuals through The Honesty Jar project and in partnership with other not-for-profit and community groups / organisations. When COVID restrictions ease up, in addition to this we will be able to resume face to face training and events in local village halls and community venues, which allows people who do not use technology, or are in more isolated rural areas to access our services. We often hear that it is a great comfort for peoples mental health knowing that items from a deceased loved-one and childhood possessions will be rehomed and repurposed respectfully within the local community. Some examples: Through church groups and refuges we are able to help those fleeing domestic abuse and new parents with baby supplies. Many people are referred to us with an urgent need caused by such things as house fire, eviction, rehoming and illness. We are able to help older people with low
funds have access to home exercise equipment. Local families have struggled to access affordable educational games, books and other home-schooling resources, as travel is restricted and many low cost shops supplying used goods are closed since the first lockdown, we have maintained a click and collect service 5/6 days per week throughout, offering these items free of charge either from the gate, or in our large carpark.
What will the money be spent on? Provide us with a simple breakdown of costs.
We would use the grant to cover basic operating costs of The Honesty Jar project for three months. Monthly core costs based on figures for year 2020:- Insurance £36, Admin £113, Rent 610 = total £759 per month. Total for three months = £2,2 77. We have an average of 40 visitors per day six days a week, 240 per week, = 3120 people in a three month period. From 1st Jan 2020 to present day our takings in the jar have been just 11% of what we would usually expect for 43% of this period; we have been open as usual for 222 working days with an average of £71 received, and operating within lockdown restrictions for 96 working days with an average of £8 received in the jar, a reduction of £63 per day. Our focus in on sustainability and re-use, so our total costs are kept to a minimum. As well as rent, insurance and office costs as above; our other costs include support for our volunteers with PPE and refreshments, also advertising for our services, staffing, storage, software, cleaning supplies, training, maintenance, building and shop-fittings, which we will continue to cover using reserves.
Please tell us the project start/end dates or the period this funding would cover, along with anything else you would like to add in support of your application?
The Honesty Jar project is run by BearCat Collective; a not for profit constituted group started in December 2009, that has been running swap-shops and community events locally for 10 years (since August 2010). Our first permanent home 'The Honesty Jar' opened its doors in November 2019 at The Toy Barn in Sherborne, moving to larger, purpose-built premises with improved access in Henstridge during March 2020; ten days before the first lockdown. This is an ongoing project with a long term lease. Future plans include groundworks for an outside family area to further a safe mental and physical haven with a socially distanced communal space from spring 2021, eventually to be used for community workshops and events. Many charity shops have been closed down or not accepting donations, so access to low cost items, and facilities to pass on reusable items is drastically limited, forcing many people to resort to using local waste facilities, sending valuable resources to landfill and increasing the burden on our local council services. Since March 2020 we have invested additional time and resources, transferring our community mental health training sessions and crisis coaching to run online. We are committed to keeping our services running and accessible, despite the current additional logistical and financial challenges. Many personal reviews from customers, volunteers and local organisation leaders can be found on our website.
