This is how we will spend our Big Give donations
This year, we were really grateful to be selected as one of the charities to be part of the Big Give Matched funding campaign. We launched a social media campaign, shared Lilli’s story about the impact The Juno Project had on her life, and emailed our small network of supporters and donors. We were delighted to reach £1,057.25.
It was the highest total we have reached in any campaign, and it has given us the hope and impetus to keep pushing forward with our fundraising. If you would like to donate to us, please use the donation button on our website!
How will we spend the money?
When we submit our bids for funding, usually to grant makers or local government organisations, it’s nearly always project-specific. Of course, that’s really important. Charitable giving is all about making sure that the money received is going directly to the beneficiaries.
We run on a shoestring, with one part-time member of staff (our CEO!) and several brilliant self-employed facilitators. We also have contracted, by the hour admin support when needed. As a fully remote charity, our running costs are as small as we can make them. Nearly all our marketing and social media is done by volunteers. Even though we operate so leanly, we still need funds to cover the basics. But we struggle to secure unrestricted or core funding. Funding that allows us to keep the wheels turning so that we can do all the brilliant work that we do.
So where will this generation donation go? Once we’ve checked the books, it’s most likely that half will go into our core funding pot. That’s the pot that allows us to pay our staff, keep our website and emails running, build our relationships with funders, donors and local communities. It’s so important that our reserves are healthy too.
The other half will be spent in the local community.
Our work in the community
Earlier this year, we launched our community workshops. We knew that our programmes in schools were working really well, but we also knew that there are lots of young women who, for complex reasons, cannot attend school, or who don’t want to access our programmes in the school environment.
We call them “Craft and Chat” sessions, because they are relaxed, informal, and a good opportunity to explore important topics related to young women’s health and wellbeing. These include building self-awareness, exploring identity, gifts, and challenges, simple ways to handle stress & big emotions, how to build confidence, how to handle tricky relationships, and how to understand how the brain works. In addition, we explore goal setting, core values and the importance of good communication.
We have run 8-week courses in Littlehampton and Worthing. The very first community group took place in Crawley, and is still going. It’s a well-attended group that enjoys meeting week after week. These are some of the comments the young women have given us:
'I love Juno, I absolutely love coming here. I don't know what I'd do without it.'
'Juno is like my family. It's just like a big family. I love it.'
Their enthusiasm speaks for itself, but it also hides a difficult truth. The two young women who gave us these quotes are not able to go to school due to struggling with their mental health. They are struggling with anxiety and self-esteem.
However, the money raised through the Big Give is going towards some 1-2-1 sessions. Those sessions will allow them to explore more fully and in full confidence with our trained facilitators who have lived experience themselves. The result could mean they begin to cope better with everyday life and possibly even return to school.
Both ways of putting this donation to good use are equally important. And it’s thanks to everyone who clicked on the link during our Big Give campaign and gave their hard-earned cash.
If you have been inspired to support our work, please consider donating to us through our website, or even better, setting up a recurring direct debit (contact us at admin@thejunoproject.co.uk).
You won’t regret it!