PROVIDING OPPORTUNITY

1. FAMILIES IMPACTED BY COVID

RCF moved quickly at the outset of the lockdown to support vulnerable people in Leicestershire facing extreme hardship. In April 2020 it collaborated with LeicestershireLive with a start-up grant for the There With You Fund. The funding was distributed by Leicesterbased Charity Link, which specialises in finding small grants to deliver essential items that most people take for granted. The fund has so far raised almost £150,000, issuing more than £148,000 of it in emergency grants to support 2,458 people in Leicester and Leicestershire - of which 1,190 were children.

2. CLINICAL TRIALS FOR CANCER RESEARCH

Hope Against Cancer funds cutting-edge research and makes clinical trials available to people in Leicestershire and Rutland. It supports innovative research that leads to improved treatments and better outcomes, ensuring that Leicestershire is a hub of expertise in cancer research and treatment. Since 2003 it has funded more than 60 research projects, including the Clinical Trials Facility at Leicester Royal Infirmary. It offers local people with cancer the opportunity to take part in clinical trials. It is one of only a few outside of London to do so. Every year around 5,000 people are diagnosed with cancer in Leicestershire.

3. EMERGENCY RELIEF FOR WORKERS

In 2020 the Foundation backed the British Asian Trust’s Covid-19 Emergency Appeal. It provided essential emergency relief kits to 137,000 people in 27,500 families across 15 states in India. The pandemic saw more than 400 million daily workers in India lose their livelihoods overnight. Mass migration from cities to villages ensued as workers returned, often walking hundreds of miles by foot, to try to find the next meal. A year later, a second grant provided an oxygen generator at the 550-bed St Martha’s Hospital in Bangalore to deliver life-saving oxygen to Covid-19 patients.

4. THE FLOATING HOSPITAL

RCF’s focus with the IMPACT Foundation in 2019 was an innovative floating hospital in Bangladesh, which specialises in providing eye, hearing and mobility operations. The boat is the first-ever onboard hospital facility, enabling it to support remote riverside communities which otherwise could not be accessed to provide simple medical procedures. In doing so, it prevents disability as a means of addressing poverty.

5. MICRO LOANS FOR START-UPS

Funding to the MicroLoan Foundation in 2019 provided women in southern Malawi with the initial loans and training to help start-up in business. The charity supports poor women living in remote areas with free financial literacy and business training alongside small affordable loans to start selling agricultural produce, trading fish or running a grocery store. In 2021 a further grant supported 1,408 women and 5,632 children by funding more female entrepreneurs.

The Future

So what’s next for the Foundation? There will be continuation of funding for selected charities and NGOs. Focus will continue to be on organisations that use funding to invest in becoming more entrepreneurial.

But enterprise also means considering new markets, seizing the initiative and a willingness to undertake new ventures.

Last year, the Foundation moved towards public affairs activity – essentially supporting the lobbying of Government – by funding research around the challenges of addiction in the UK.

It provided a grant to the Centre for Social Justice – the think tank established by former Conservative Party leader Sir Iain Duncan-Smith in 2011 – to conduct research and formulate policy that tackles root causes of poverty.

The result was an extra £80million of Government funding for drug treatment services in England. It meant more places for people released from prison and convicted criminals handed community sentences.

It was the biggest increase in funding for drug treatment services in 15 years and was, in large part, made possible through research and lobbying partly funded by the Foundation.

“We will continue to support other charities in the UK and around the world in their innovative solutions and programmes for increasing social opportunity,” said Dr Nik.

“What our experience with the CSJ showed us is that, by thoughtful investment in certain strategic campaigns, we can leverage activity so it moves from charities and NGOs to Governments.

“In doing so, our own social entrepreneurial activity can be amplified into creating opportunity on a national or even international scale.

“Such direct action can give people a fresh opportunity to change the course of their lives.

“This benefits, not just the individuals themselves, but their families, their communities and society as a whole.”

Learn more about the Foundation’s work at randalfoundation.org.uk.