Page 35 - DWF Annual Report 2017

As a registered charity, the DWF “When launching the Foundation, we made a promise
Foundation was launched with the sole
aim of providing funds, resources and to make a difference and we have kept that promise,
support to help local communities creating something really special. Our vision as a
achieve their full potential with a focus on
education, employability, health and business has been to encourage all of our people to
well-being and homelessness.
work together to help raise funds to provide resources
Together we support charities and and support to help local communities achieve their
projects that tackle specific community
issues, help voluntary and community full potential, so I am delighted our people have backed
groups to become more effective and
efficient, encouraging involvement of the Foundation wholeheartedly and so many have got
those too often excluded, and enabling involved with initiatives and activities so we have been
young people to develop skills for the
benefit of the community. able to raise the amount we have and help so many
more local projects than we have been able to do before.”
The Foundation builds on our existing
community activity in a focused and Jim Davies, Co-Founder of DWF and Chair of the Trustees of the DWF Foundation.
strategic way and demonstrates that
when we all work together we can make
a significant, positive impact on the
communities in which we live and work.
In its first year, the DWF Foundation
raised more than £76,000 and supported
30 local charities around the UK.

Case Study: Working with the
Wood Street Mission

Manchester Children’s charity, Wood
Street Mission, used their grant for their
SmartStart initiative, which helps to
alleviate the effects of poverty on local
children and their families.

Roseanne Sweeney, Chief Executive of
Wood Street Mission children’s charity,
said: “Doing well at school is key to
breaking the cycle of poverty but many
families struggle to afford school costs
which means their children are less likely
to grow up to fulfil their potential.
SmartStart is our million pound initiative to
kit out all local children for school so they
fit in and want to achieve. This year,
thanks to the generosity of our supporters
including DWF, we were able to kit out
over 2,300 children in smart new uniforms
for the start of the school year and
distribute over £200,000 of school kit to
local families.”

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