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, use of phone and internet
- a council grant to cover general running costs.
Better Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund, part of Sandwell Council’s Healthy Sandwell – funds our Support, Empowerment and Experience (SEE) project.
National Lottery Community Fund
This grant has meant that we can continue to employ our Enablement Worker, Kelley for a further period of 18 months from September 2024. Thank you so much National Lottery players!
Inclusive Communities Fund
Thanks to this legacy from the Commonwealth Games we’ve been able to provide a range of inclusive activities and employ a second Enablement Worker (Nigel) for the summer and autumn 2024. Activities involved are cycling, park walks and trips out.
Music For All
Music For All have given us the bulk of the funding to run a series of music workshops, SVI Rocks, which will culminate in a performance at our Annual Forum in November 2024.
Active 60 Group activities are self-funded by members’ contributions and raffles.
Tipton Tree of Lights – run by Tipton Civic Society helps us to support Sandwell Talking News specifically for people in Tipton.
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.
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.
Past Funders
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.
Active 60 Group activities are self-funded by members’ contributions and raffles.
Vision 2030 Vaccine Support Grant – enables us to help our members who need 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.
Donations
We receive donations from members and friends, along with legacies and sponsorship activities. The sponsorship money raised by Belinda Kaur and Redbrain is currently 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.
