The PRS REIT's Investment Adviser Donates £100,000 to 4 key charities!

19 August 2020

As part of Sigma’s annual corporate social responsibility plans, £100,000 has been recently donated to four key charities. The charities were selected by staff and were chosen with the effects of COVID-19 in mind. COVID-19 will no doubt have a lasting effect in many different ways and Sigma would like to help by donating this money in a contribution toward fundraise opportunities that has been lost for many charities throughout this year.

The chosen charities were Mind UK (focused on mental health), Trussell Trust Foodbanks (focused on the emergency provision of food to people in need throughout the UK), Women’s Aid (focused on keeping women and children safe from domestic violence) and Centrepoint (working to prevent homelessness in children and young adults).

This year’s donations took on an interactive stance with residents. It was agreed that each charity would automatically receive £12,500 of the donation with the remaining £50,000 split being decided by residents. Our Simple Life homes brand champions the idea of community and charity. As many people may not be in a position to donate to their usual charities this year, we decided to involve residents in to our donations by asking them to vote using an online poll for the charity that is closest to their heart.

After a month of voting the final results were in and the donations were as follows:

Mind, 38.96% of the vote received £31,980
Women’s Aid, 25.97% of the vote received £25,480
Centrepoint, 24.68% of the vote received £24,840
The Trussell Trust, 10.39% of the vote received £17,700

Centrepoint comments:

“Each year, 100,000 16-25 year olds face the terrifying experience of becoming homeless. Centrepoint exists to provide a safety net to these vulnerable young people, and ensure they can find a path towards a better future. None of the fantastic work we do would be possible, so we are incredibly grateful for Sigma’s support.” Hannah Jones, Regional Fundraising Manager.

The donation of £24,840 can be used to provide 39 young people with a full suite of psychotherapy sessions, or it can run Centrepoint’s national helpline for 18 days, providing advice and assistance to young people in crisis.

Mind UK comments:

“As you can imagine, Covid-19 has had a huge impact on the nation’s mental health and is a whole new challenge for Mind to support the increasing numbers of people needing mental health support across the country. We know that after an acute crisis, 40% of a population are more likely to experience poor mental health. Sigma Capital’s support will help us ensure that anyone experiencing a mental health problem receives the help they need now and in the future.” Beth Knudsen, Corporate Partnerships Assistant

The donation of £31,980 can keep Mind’s Infoline running for over 250 hours and answering over 3,100 potentially life-saving calls, or it could run a text service for children and young people for over 1,450 hours.

The Trussell Trust comments:

“Thank you, on behalf of the Trussell Trust and, perhaps more importantly, the hundreds of thousands of people who are supported by our network of food banks: a huge thank you. Through the generous support we have received from Sigma Capital Group we have begun to make progress tackling the unprecedented challenges we face and been able to continue to ensure food is delivered to those most vulnerable in isolation.

Your donation means we can remain agile to respond to the changing situation and ensure food banks continue to provide the lifeline of emergency food and additional support for people in crisis. We would not have been able to make so much progress over the past month without your incredible support.” Sophie Carre, Head of Corporate Partnerships

Last year The Trussell Trust network gave out 1.6 million three-day emergency food supplies to people in crisis and 500,000 of these went to children. This is a 23% increase on the previous year and a 73% increase in the last 5 years. Latest figures from food banks in the Trussell Trust network show during April 2020, there was an 89% increase in need for emergency food parcels compared to the same month last year, with a staggering 107% rise in parcels for children.

Women’s Aid comments:

“Your generosity will help women and children experiencing abuse. Our combination of campaigning, research, training and direct services creates real change in the response to domestic abuse and can be life-saving for survivors.

“The coronavirus outbreak has had a monumental impact on women experiencing domestic abuse, and on our work at Women’s Aid. For many survivors, home is not a safe place, and being isolated with a perpetrator has greatly increased the risk of domestic abuse, as well as limited the times when women have been able to seek support. Demand for our Live Chat Helpline has soared and our members have needed help as they faced this unprecedented crisis. We have been able to adapt and extend the reach of our services, however we have always been wary of a further increase in demand for our services as the lockdown restrictions are eased, and more women feel able to reach out for support. We therefore appreciate your generosity more than ever.” Cordelia Lodge, Fundraising Partnerships Support Officer

ESG News

The PRS REIT’s Investment Adviser Donates £100,000 to 4 key charities!

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