Search
The charities we partner with are supported on the basis of their effectiveness and impact. We also support staff giving and sponsorship through matching donations.
Church Homeless Charity funds specific support or items that an individual needs throughout their journey from being homeless to establishing a home and playing a part in society.
Resettlement grants are given for items for which there is no government funding available and group activities supported include cooking, expressive arts, digital inclusion and health and fitness. Church Homeless Charity also works with partners across England to reach homeless people who need help and offers accommodation in winter night shelters at Christmas time. The charity runs Street Buddies, a peer-led street outreach team which helps entrenched rough sleepers off the street.
In 2021/2022 Church Homeless Charity’s giving increased by 19% on the previous year, partly due to the impact of the pandemic. The charity supported a lot of people including giving over 600 welcome packs to people arriving at hostels with nothing; helping over 80 asylum seekers; providing therapeutic activities including gardening, music, painting, arts and crafts and creative writing, to over 1,500 people; giving c.750 people a resettlement grant; and helping c.90 people to gain training, enabling them to develop skills that will open opportunities for work and consequently gain independence.
Community Links is a social action charity which finds new solutions to old problems and delivers them with the whole community.
Based in Newham, one of the most deprived boroughs in London, Community Links works across Advice, Digital Skills, Youth & Employment, Health and Policy & Learning to take a holistic approach to supporting its community. As a result of the pandemic Community Links has seen an unprecedented rise in demand for its services.
Over the past year, its Covid-19 Helpline has successfully supported over 12,000 residents; over 2,500 residents have been helped with food parcels; their health service has helped c. 80,000 people; the charity’s More than Mentors programme, which assists young people in transitioning from primary to secondary school, reached over 350 young people; and advice across debt, housing, social welfare and legal was provided to over 4,000 residents.
In August 2021 Community Links launched Links Studios, a recording studio for young people in the Newham community. Links Studios will form the foundation of Links Media College, which will provide fully accredited qualifications in Music Technology.
Historic Royal Palaces is an independent charity that looks after the Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace, the Banqueting House, Kensington Palace, Kew Palace and Hillsborough Castle and Gardens. Its cause is, “To help everyone explore the story of how monarchs and people have shaped society, in some of the greatest palaces ever built.”
In support of this, the charity runs a public engagement programme to enable adults, families, young people and children to participate in immersive, high quality activities and programmes onsite, offsite and online, with 3i helping to fund the Schools and Community Programmes.
The pandemic had a significant impact on these programmes, with onsite school and community visits only restarting in June 2021, since when HRP has welcomed c.35,000 school pupils and 2,500 community participants to the palaces. In addition to onsite programming, HRP held online CPD events for teachers, online sessions for primary and secondary schools and a programme of online talks for its community partners.
During the past year, HRP launched a programme called ‘Amazing Days Out’, which is targeted at children from low-income families, Looked After Children, young carers, children/families who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, single parent families and disabled children and their families. Over 600 children and their adults visited Hampton Court Palace during the summer through this programme.
In addition, HRP was able to welcome back its community partners from June 2021 as part of the Community Access Scheme (‘CAS’), with over 2,500 people visiting the palaces through CAS; and the charity restarted its onsite Dementia Friendly programmes.
Independent Age is the national charity focused on improving the lives of the two million older people facing financial hardship in later life.
1 in 6 people aged over 65 are living in poverty in the UK, with an additional one million who are hovering precariously above the poverty line.
Driven by the mission that no one should face financial hardship in later life, Independent Age aims to have improved the lives of a million older people by 2027. The charity does this through its Helpline and Advice service, providing specialist support to older people, including welfare benefits checks, free guides covering a range of topics, distributing grants to organisations working directly with older people nationally and campaigning for change and a better future for all older people.
During 2023, Independent Age supported over 46,000 people to access their services, identifying over £2.1 million of unclaimed benefits, with the 36 grant-funded organisations unlocking a further £10 million in additional benefits for the 37,000 people they were able to support.
The charity’s Helpline took over 20,000 calls and continues its campaigning work and research, focusing on issues including housing for older people and groups of older people who are more at risk of financial hardship.
Independent Age and 3i work together to host educational webinars, as well as fundraising and social events.
The National Youth Orchestra (‘NYO’) of Great Britain is among the world’s leading orchestras composed exclusively of teenagers.
As well as working together in the orchestra, the teenagers are also encouraged to inspire other young musicians through the NYO Inspire programme which provides free opportunities to Grade 6-8 teenage musicians to develop their orchestral playing through in-depth workshops, rehearsals and public performances.
Due to the pandemic, the NYO had to adapt its activities, which meant moving online. They used this opportunity to reach a wider audience and broaden their community of young musicians.
In 2021, NYO invited teenagers across the UK to sign up with them and an incredible 600 musicians did so and played music online together; the NYO Inspire programme saw 775 teenage musicians taking part in 16 live performances of the same piece over 16 days, resulting in a musical relay around the UK; and the orchestra held its Hope Exchange which involved four residencies for its musicians who performed five concerts across the UK that explored ways in which music embodies hope for a better world. As part of the Exchange, NYO’s community of musicians gave individual concerts in their local primary schools as well as secondary schools. These were accompanied by musical and creative projects for the students.
Re-engage is a national charity dedicated to tackling loneliness and social isolation amongst older people living in the UK.
Re-engage provides vital life-enhancing social connections for older people at a time in their lives when their social circles are diminishing. Supported by a network of volunteers, the charity provides regular opportunities for companionship for thousands of older people across the UK, with a special focus on the over 75s.
Re-engage runs social and physical activity groups in local communities, a telephone befriending service and a service over Christmas for older people feeling alone. As part of its ambition to work with older people from all walks of life, in March 2022 Re-engage also launched ‘rainbow call companions’, a telephone befriending service especially for older LGBT+ people.
RBLI is a national charity supporting the Armed Forces, people with disabilities and people who are unemployed. They improve lives every day by inspiring those they help and supporting them to find work and lead independent lives.
During 2021, RBLI continued to expand its STEP-IN programme, which supports veterans to achieve independence and reach their goals in their own way and at their own pace. New programmes were created covering outdoor recreation, swimming and horticulture; through these programmes RBLI supports veterans to learn and use new skills and experience.
Over the past year RBLI supported over 30 veterans in its emergency accommodation and helped a number of veterans to progress from emergency accommodation into independent homes following completion of the STEP-IN programme and reaching their individual goals.
Their team of over 100 veterans and people with disabilities at Britain’s Bravest Manufacturing Company, RBLI’s Social Enterprise manufacturing facility, was chosen as an official supplier of The Queen’s Green Canopy plaques, a tree planting initiative created to mark the Platinum Jubilee.
The charity also completed the refurbishment of its care home, which now offers the first dedicated dementia facility on the village.
The Snowdon Trust aims to break down barriers for disabled students on their journey through post-school education and into employment. Where they cannot immediately break down a barrier, they aspire to listen, support, and empower individuals to overcome challenges.
One of Snowdon Trust’s core programmes, which has been running for over 40 years, aims to reduce the financial burden of disability by providing funds of up to £5,000 to cover additional costs that students incur because of their disability; these costs are not covered by statutory funds such as Disabled Students Allowance or Local Authorities. In the academic year 2021/2022, the Snowdon Trust awarded grants to 79 disabled students costing over £227,000.
The Snowdon Trust also increase opportunities for disabled students through the Disabled Leaders Network, by providing Scholarships to disabled students who show potential to be leaders in their field, and by regularly undertaking research focusing on the needs and challenges facing disabled students bringing us a step closer towards a time when inclusion is no longer a goal.
The Passage, based near our London office in Westminster, is a homelessness charity whose services have a high impact on the local community.
3i supports The Passage’s Client Development team which provides clients with life skills and helps them to end their homelessness by returning to work. Support includes computer training, literacy and numeracy classes, help with CVs and finding jobs, and financial and welfare rights advice.
The Passage experienced an increase in need due to Covid-19 as well as the requirement to offer its services in a different way. Despite the challenging backdrop, it continued to support a large number of clients with housing, education, mental health and other needs.
During 2021, the charity supported over 1,200 clients at their Resource Centre with donations of clothes, providing breakfast or lunch, or using the washing facilities; their Rough Sleeping Team assessed over 400 clients to define a step-by-step action plan; over 200 clients were supported into improved housing; over 40 clients gained employment despite the difficult economic circumstances; and 167 clients improved their health with support from The Passage’s health team.
Since 2002, Career Ready has connected employers with schools and colleges to provide young people aged 14-18 with mentors, internships, masterclasses, and employer-led activities that prepare them for the world of work.
3i takes part in the mentoring programme which supports young people aged 16 to 18 who lack the opportunities, professional networks and confidence to find their undiscovered talents.
A number of 3i employees are volunteering as mentors in the current academic year, meeting their mentees for an hour per month for up to 12 months. Face-to-face mentoring meetings have had to stop because of the social distancing measures imposed to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 in the UK, and all students mentored by 3i employees have been offered the option to be mentored through virtual meetings and phone calls.
3i is proud to be a founding investor in Bridges Fund Management (previously Bridges Ventures), a privately-owned UK venture capital company with a social mission.
Its strategy is to focus exclusively on opportunities where investments can generate attractive investor returns through helping meet pressing social or environmental challenges, such as backing businesses that generate jobs in underserved areas or building environmentally friendly care homes for the elderly to sustain an ageing population. To date Bridges has raised more than £1 billion of capital across three fund types: Sustainable Growth Funds, Property Funds and Social Sector Funds.
Read about how 3i is supporting charities and communities affected by the pandemic in the countries in which we operate.