Berkeley Foundation launches £300,000 fund for homelessness charities

The Berkeley Foundation has launched its Resilience Fund for 2024, offering homelessness charities access to a further £300,000 of funding to strengthen their operations.

Up to six organisations working in London, the South East or Birmingham will be awarded up to £60,000 each over two years, to build resilience for the future.

This year the organisational development grants will be available for charities and CICs working with young people experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness, and facing discrimination.

The Resilience Fund was first launched in 2021 in response to rapidly increasing financial pressures and operational demands faced by many small and medium sized charities as the UK emerged from the pandemic. Unlike most grant programmes, the funds can be invested in strengthening a charity’s foundations and ensuring they can meet their long-term goals to tackle homelessness.

The fund comes with wraparound support to help small to medium sized charities and community interest companies to build their organisational resilience. This could include improving governance, people power, financial planning, systems or strategies.

As well as the grant, successful applicants will have access to the Foundation’s bespoke learning programme, and pro bono support from the wider Berkeley Group.

This announcement follows two successful years of resilience funding from The Berkeley Foundation, which has committed to investing £300,000 in the programme each year, for three years.

Sally Dickinson, Head of The Berkeley Foundation, said:

“We know that many homelessness charities are facing mounting challenges, as demands on their vital services have increased. Our Resilience Fund helps our partners to get the building blocks right, and from there it’s astounding what they are able to achieve.”

Martin Cosarinsky Campos, Director at Breadwinners Foundation, said:

“With the support from the Berkeley Foundation Resilience Fund in 2022/23, Breadwinners was able to increase our income by 43% and consequently, grow our impact by 20%, supporting 119 young refugees through our programmes. Our collaboration also led to the growth and advancement of the staff team and our innovative approach and impact were recognised through multiple awards.”

The Berkeley Foundation has a unique model, based on long-term partnerships with just a small number of charities. This means working closely with real experts to make a difference in five impact areas: providing everyone with a safe place to call home, preparing young people for employment, supporting health and wellbeing, empowering young people to support themselves and their communities, and building a resilient voluntary sector.

Applications to the Resilience Fund are welcomed before 2 February 2024 via berkeleyfoundation.org.uk/resilience-fund