A huge thank you to all our funders past and present. These include the following organisations and sources of funding.
Sandwell Council funding has enabled us to grow and develop. They provide:
- seconded staff – Development Officer and Business Support Officer
- funding in kind that helps us to operate on a day-to-day basis – accommodation at a peppercorn rent and use of phone.
- a council grant to cover general running costs.
Busking for Charity – we are one of this year’s chosen charities and will receive their donation at the end of the 2026. Read more about Busking for Charity and how they support us.
Vision 2030 Community Mental Health Grant – this is paying for our Wonder in Nature programme where our members are taking part in local walks focusing on mindfulness, wellbeing and use of all the senses.
SCVO Vision 2030 Micro Grant – to contribute towards a Sandwell Celebrates event which will include a performance by our SVI Rocks group. This event will commemorate our former vice chair Richard Flatley, who was a well known and respected contributor to the wider voluntary sector in Sandwell and beyond.
Active 60 Group activities are self-funded by members’ contributions and raffles. There’s more about Active 60 on our groups page.
Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, Empowering People in Communities Fund
This funding is to develop members’ skills in the management and running of SVI. It is helping to build campaigning skills around issues that affect our daily lives as visually impaired people. The project will also support people to tell their own story of their experiences living with sight loss.
Tipton Tree of Lights – run by Tipton Civic Society helps us to support Sandwell Talking News, specifically for people in Tipton.
Past Funders
We are thankful to our past funders, who have enabled us to develop services, some of which continue today. Despite specific services and roles having to conclude, we’ve built up new and better relationships with other organisations as a result. And of course our members benefitted from the programmes run with this short term funding.
National Lottery Community Fund – This grant meant that we could continue to employ our Enablement Worker, Kelley, for a further period of 18 months from September 2024. Thank you so much National Lottery players! We have applied for more funding for her post and await a decision by 30 July 2026.
Inclusive Communities Fund – Thanks to this legacy from the Commonwealth Games we were able to provide a range of inclusive activities and employ a second Enablement Worker (Nigel) for the summer and autumn 2024. Activities involved were cycling, park walks and trips out.
Music For All – Music For All gave us the bulk of the funding to run a series of music workshops, SVI Rocks, which culminated in a performance at our Annual Forum in November 2024. As a result of this funding we developed a relationship with Misfits Music and continue to run music sessions in partnership with them, with funding they receive. Find out more about our musical journey as SVI Rocks: Brum Rocks hits SVI; From West Bromwich to the mixing desk; SVI Rocks
Thomas Pocklington Trust – for our Digital Empowerment Project which enabled us to commission a specialist IT consultant for 4 hours per week to work with SVI members and volunteers to increase digital awareness and skills. We continue to offer digital support sessions via our peer support group ‘Let’s Talk About IT’ and one-to-one sessions run in partnership at our offices run by the Beacon Centre.
Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, Empowering People in Communities Fund – which paid for our Volunteers Coordinator and to help develop SVI’s volunteers service.
Wates Family Enterprise Trust – helped to fund our SocialEyes programme of day trips and adventure activities in 2023.
Creative Black Country – for our Unseen Memories project which was a small photography and audio reminiscence project.
UK Shared Prosperity Fund – for a Work to Wellbeing Project in partnership with the Beacon Centre to support blind and visually impaired residents of Sandwell to develop work-related skills.
Better Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund, part of Sandwell Council’s Healthy Sandwell – funded our Support, Empowerment and Experience (SEE) project.
Sandwell Council – Sandwell Active Travel Grant – to enable us to run a 10 week summer walks programme including town based walks in the six towns of Sandwell.
Vision 2030 Vaccine Support Grant – enabled us to help our members who needed extra support to access vaccines.
Black Country Touring – our project to produce podcasts about blind and visually impaired lived experience focussing on dreams, water and colour. You can listen to the podcasts, Blathering with SVI, here.
Metal Closures Ltd Staff Welfare Fund – to buy equipment, such as braillers and audio recorders and office furniture.
Turner Trust – to support the core funding of our finance officer.
NHS Black Country ICB – part of a co-production project to improve women’s health in the Black Country.
Sandwell Big Lunch – SCVO Vision 2030 – to recruit and celebrate existing volunteers.
Creative Black Country for the ‘Go and See Rembrandt Exhibition’. This was a commission not a grant, which enabled us to work with Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery to partake in a private audio description and touch tour of the Rembrandt in Black and White exhibition. There is more about our visit to the Rembrandt exhibition here.
Donations
We receive donations from members and friends, along with legacies and sponsorship activities. The sponsorship money raised by Belinda Kaur and Redbrain is still funding some of our health and wellbeing activities. We are enormously grateful for everyone’s generous support.
Volunteers
Many thanks too to our volunteers who freely give their time to support SVI and who enable us to offer such wide and varied services to visually impaired people.
