Ways to support Changing Lives

A lot of our income is ring-fenced for specific purposes. We need unrestricted income to be responsive to emergencies and emerging areas of need, as well as providing enhanced support.

That’s why fundraising is so important.

Your company could help:

• raise money through staff charity challenges
• by making us your Charity of the Year
• committing to placing our collection tins in your premises

Our services include domestic abuse refuges, hostels for people facing homelessness, and even crèches for children of our clients.

Donations of everyday items mean projects can spend more of their budget on frontline services like counselling and training courses.

Could you donate any of the following?

• Toiletries and sanitary products
• Homeware and furniture
• Gardening and DIY materials
• IT equipment
• Safety equipment
• Toys or children’s equipment
• Clothing

Please contact us if you have any other gifts-in-kind you think we might be able to use.

We also have a charity shop in the North East that always welcome donations.

There is always something to do at Changing Lives, from gardening and painting, to helping with craft activities or tidying up the local area.

These one-off tasks are a great opportunity to get your staff out of the office and into hands-on, result-orientated team work. Perfect for team building and giving staff a real sense of satisfaction.

Our dream is that each project will have a corporate sponsor who can provide a range of help that may include financial support, goods, volunteers, expertise and more.

If you’re interesting in helping pioneer this approach by sponsoring a specific project, get in touch at val.bell@changing-lives.org.uk.

You can find out more about our specific projects in our service directory.

You professional expertise can enhance our operations. If you are able to provide professional advice on a pro bono or reduced cost basis, it helps release money that we can use in our projects.

Alternatively, could you offer mentoring to one of our many staff to help them develop professionally and support our clients more effectively?

The people who use our services can face multiple barriers to entering the workplace – see our Employment Services section for more information.

Work placements with local businesses can help people to gain practical experience, build skills and confidence, and gain a reference. These are all so helpful in their on-going search for work.

We have partnerships with national organisations such as M&S, Greggs and Virgin Money, who accept work placements from this programme.

Some of our clients who have took part in these placements have went on to gain employment with the host organisation.

Can you provide a work placement for our clients? Or perhaps sponsor their travel costs?

Do you have meeting space in your office that is under-used? Room hire costs can soon add up. If you could provide space for us to meet or train our staff, this represents a real saving to our charity.