When Maureen Gordon founded the Hope Tree Counselling & Consultancy Service CIC in 2015, her vision was clear: to support children, young people and families through counselling in schools, community settings, and activity programmes during the school holidays.
Starting a new organisation, however came with the challenge of navigating the world of fundraising, and it was at an early conference that Maureen first discovered Funding for All.
Maureen kindly shares her experience of the support she received:
Beginning our fundraising journey
“I attended a conference when I started the Hope Tree in 2015 which focused on funding for voluntary organisations. This was the first time I came across Funding for All.
I had several meetings with various mentors at that time, who advised me on the process of where to apply for funding based on my project remit of supporting families. They gave me practical advice on the advantages and disadvantages of setting up a charity or a CIC.
These initial meetings helped me to focus on the project’s main fundraising goals and the funders to target.”
Insights that made a difference
“The mentors we have used over the years have been very accommodating with our sessions. There have been no issues regarding their availability. They gave us time to prepare for our sessions and were flexible.
Our latest mentor, Katie, was extremely accommodating; she listened to us about our funding needs for a new initiative we were hoping to launch. She encouraged us to revisit our priorities and helped us think about how to write a funding application for the specific items we needed.
Her advice was invaluable during this time, as we were planning our ten‑year anniversary events in April 2025 and needed to fundraise for this as well as our summer activities and long‑term plans.
She had many ideas and helped us think about diverse ways of getting funds such as crowdfunding and approaching local businesses. We were successful in securing a grant for our summer programme and continue to use some of her ideas for our ongoing needs.”
A future filled with hope
“Having a Mentor from Funding for All helped us to refocus our efforts in how we looked for funding. Katie was supportive, interested in our project, and encouraged us to keep going.
We are grateful for her guidance. I would recommend this service from Funding for All 100%.”
Inspired by this story? Your organisation could achieve more with the right support behind you.
Discover how our Mentoring Programme for Kent & Medway’s voluntary sector can help develop your fundraising and make an even bigger.
