Camden Giving is a local charity that helps Camden-based organisations that provide much-needed support to residents across the borough. In December 2022, Camden residents generously donated over £10,000 to Camden Giving’s Cost of Living Appeal. We spoke to Natasha Friend, Director, and Yodit Tesfamariam, Partnerships Manager, to find out how this money helped to fund activities across Camden.
What impact did the donations from Camden residents have last winter?
Firstly, we just wanted to say a massive thank you to everyone who donated. Every penny raised was distributed to 9 organisations across Camden. Each of these organisations was given a grant to help fund vital events and activities – some of which wouldn’t have been possible without the donations.
Please could you tell us about some of the projects that Camden residents helped to support last winter?
Here’s a few of the brilliant organisations we provided grants to, and what the grants were used for:
- Life After Hummus provides food aid across Camden via a food bank for local families and a food redistribution network that supports local hostels. Their grant provided regular food to 80 of the 500 households they support, preventing these people going hungry. They also set up a ‘help yourself clothing rail’ – people donate clothes they no longer wear, or have grown out of, and people can help themselves no questions asked.
- Bengali Workers Association (BWA) provides services, support and activities for Camden residents, including Camden’s Bengali community. For example, staff at BWA help residents claim the benefits they’re entitled to, and they provide a drop-in service for residents at risk of, or experiencing, domestic violence and abuse. Their grant helped to fund their weekly hot lunch club, which provides a hot meal for up to 80 residents every week, and some of their vital support services.
- London Inclusion Sports Academy provides a range of sports and fitness activities for people in Camden and across London – including gym sessions, boxercise and badminton. They also run free activities for children who receive free school meals during school holidays. Their grant helped to fund sports for disabled Camden residents – including cycling and football.
- Somalis In Tech is a Camden-based social enterprise on a mission to support more people in Camden’s Somali community into tech careers. Some of their grant was used for upskilling young Somali residents – including free tech classes, work experience opportunities and hackathons. The rest of the grant was used to help grow the organisation so that they can help more people.
“A massive thank you to everyone who donated. Every penny raised was distributed to 9 organisations who were given a grant to help fund vital events and activities, – some of which wouldn’t have been possible without the donations.”
How did you choose which projects to fund?
In early 2023, we brought our panel together, who are a diverse group of Camden residents. They spoke to people across Camden to find out how the money should be spent. From these conversations, we dedicated the money to organisations that support disabled residents and residents from Black, Asian and other ethnic communities who have been disproportionately affected by the cost of living crisis. To further support these communities, we gave every organisation an additional £2,500 on top of their grant if they spent some of the grant money at Black or Disabled-owned businesses. We plan to use this year’s donations in a similar way.
Find out more
To donate, visit camdengiving.org.uk/supportcamdengiving. Find out more about Camden Giving at camdengiving.org.uk. You can also follow Camden Giving on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
