Why we need your support

80% of our income comes from donations and grants

 

FiSH receives a small grant from the Borough of Richmond upon Thames for our community services and activities for older people. We also generate money by hiring out our buses to other charities. However, every year we still need to raise 80% of our income through charitable grants, membership subscriptions, donations, legacies and community fundraising.

We try very hard to offer most of our services and activities at little or no charge, so that everyone who needs our help and support can ask for it. Donations and legacies make up almost one third of the money we need to raise, so your donation matters.

We also rely on our fantastic network of volunteers, who give so much of their time to us, helping us to deliver support and practical help. Without them, and the generous donations from our local community, we wouldn’t survive. We’ve had a great many people to thank over the past 60 years. If we want to last another 60 years, we’ll need your help!

Why we need your support

80% of our income comes from donations and grants

 

FiSH receives a small grant from the Borough of Richmond upon Thames for our community services and activities for older people. We also generate money by hiring out our buses to other charities. However, every year we still need to raise 80% of our income through charitable grants, membership subscriptions, donations, legacies and community fundraising.

We try very hard to offer most of our services and activities at little or no charge, so that everyone who needs our help and support can ask for it. Donations and legacies make up almost one third of the money we need to raise, so your donation matters.

We also rely on our fantastic network of volunteers, who give so much of their time to us, helping us to deliver support and practical help. Without them, and the generous donations from our local community, we wouldn’t survive. We’ve had a great many people to thank over the past 60 years. If we want to last another 60 years, we’ll need your help!

Please help us – donate to FiSH

In 2023 we celebrated sixty years of FiSH Neighbourhood Care.  We have wonderful feedback from people who tell us what a difference FiSH has made to their lives – but we wouldn’t be able to make that difference without the amazing support of our volunteers, and the generosity of the local community.

We rely on donations to:

Provide care and support, keep our buses on the road, answer our helpline, recruit volunteers, bring people together to sing, dance, paint, chat, play bridge, learn new things, make friends, drink tea and eat cake.

In the last few years we have seen a huge increase in the numbers of people asking for our help, so thank you for making a donation, it really will make a difference.

 

How can you help us?

There are several ways that you can help us and we’re grateful for anything you can do.

Every single penny we receive makes a huge difference to the life of an isolated older person. And whether your donation will buy a cake at our Monday coffee morning, run our Helpline for a week, or run our buses for a year, we will be hugely grateful. And of course you can always give some of your time to us, as a volunteer.

One-off or regular donations

You can make a one-off gift or set up monthly, quarterly or yearly donations.

Fundraise

How about running a 10k for us or just runnning a bake sale? Maybe even get your work colleagues or children’s school involved?

In memory

If you would like friends and family to donate to FiSH in memory of someone, you can set up an in memoriam page. You can create a simple link to request donations, perhaps in lieu of flowers.

Legacies

We’re always really touched to receive legacies that enable us to provide our services. Often, they come from our users or their friends and family in recognition of the difference that FiSH has made.

Corporate

If you’re a local company you can help support one of our events, take up a sponsored challenge or make us your charity for the year.

Membership

We’re also really grateful to the users of our services who contribute to our running costs by paying a fee of £30 per year.

We would like to thank…

The following Charitable Trusts for their ongoing support of our work

The Barnes Fund
Richmond Parish Lands Charity
Friends of Barnes Hospital
The Mercers Company

We are also hugely grateful for the support of The Inman Charity, Kaye Pemberton Charitable Trust, Matthews Wrightson Charity Trust.

Our local partner organisations who help us deliver our services and activities

RaKAT
Age UK Richmond
Alzheimer's Society
Barnes Community Gardeners
Home Instead
Barnes Community Association

And we are supported by many local businesses and community ventures, either through donations or gifts in kind

Castelnau Services
Savills East Sheen
St Pauls
Two Peas in a Pod
Chestertons
Barnes FiSH shop
Winkworth
Cook
Harrodian
Barnes Common
Hare and hounds
Holly Lodge
Property Partnership

Fundraising stories

We love to hear the stories of people who fundraise for us. People have swum the Serpentine for us, entered the London Marathon and done the most amazing long distance hikes. They have even dressed up as a turkey and run around the Thames path to raise money for Christmas dinners for those spending Christmas on their own.

Our corporate partners have also done far more than donate. Staff have volunteered with us and spent time with our FiSH clients. You can read the stories of some of the most recent fundraising events and collaborations below. They put a big smile on all our faces and we hope they will on yours too.

Battersby Boys raise £3,000

Battersby Boys raise £3,000

Teenage brothers Ned and Will Battersby are huge supporters of FiSH. Not only do they donate 10% of the profits of their gardening and Christmas Tree business to FiSH, they also take part in fundraising events. In 2021 they spent 16 days walking the Pennine Way...

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How our income breaks down

 

  • Charitable Trusts 32%
  • LBRUT Grant – 10% – Community & Independent Living Services Grant
  • Donations & Legacies – 30%
  • Bus hire – 5%
  • Membership subscriptions – 6%
  • Community Fundraising – 10%*
  • Member contributions towards activities – 7%

* This is a combination of fundraising events run by FiSH itself and money raised from community ventures and individual fundraising events.