How We Are Funded
Learn English Together in Merton is an independent charity (registered charity number 1202110). We rely totally on grants from charitable foundations and similar bodies, and on donations, to pay our costs.
2022 - 2023 Funding
Our financial year runs from the 1st August to the 31st July. In 2022-23 financial year, our largest funders were Big Lottery Community Fund, City Bridge Trust and Henry Smith Charity. We also set up partnership funding projects with Merton Adult Learning and received a one-off smaller grant from Thomas Wall Trust. We were also delighted to welcome onboard a new funder, Wimbledon Community Foundation and Garfield Weston (who had previously funded us before). We are happy to welcome another new funder for the year 2023-2024 - Merton Giving Fund
We need to raise an additional £60,000 for 2023 – 24 to deliver our budgeted services.We hope you can help us!
Funders
We are very grateful to the many funders who have helped us since we started in 2009. In 2015 we received a Big Lottery grant, which covered almost all our service delivery costs until May 2018. In 2019, we were successful in obtaining funding for the next three years from the National Lottery and from the City of London’s charitable funder, City Bridge Trust. We were also awarded a grant from the Garfield Weston Foundation.
Since then, we have been awarded funding from the Henry Smith Charity, GLA Team London, Big Lottery – Awards for All, Santander Bank, Vitol Foundation, Garfield Weston, City Bridge Trust, Merton Adult Learning and Thomas Wall Trust and Wimbledon Foundation.
Learn English in Merton
We were successful at securing a grant from the MHCLG-ESOL Coordination Fund to gather data on current demand for and provision of ESOL services in the Borough of Merton. The project started in mid-March 2019 and ran for 15 months as a separate entity called Learn English Together. It has now developed into the project, Learn English in Merton, a project running until 2024 and funded by Merton Adult Learning. This project assesses the English of potential learners in the borough and signposts them to local English provision. The project also works closely with different providers to build capacity of English learning.
This is a separate entity at www.learnenglishinmerton.org
Private Donations
We are incredibly grateful for any private donations. You can donate anonymously through our PayPal account or you can contact us directly to make a donation via bank transfer.
Fundraisers
We welcome individuals, community groups or companies who would like to do a fundraiser for us. You can set up an online fundraising page via Wonderful – see our Donate page for more information.
‘Songs on Wheel’s have organised two successful fundraisers to support our work. The first, ‘Blue Moon’ sing-along concert in 2019 raised a staggering £2,300 and the second “Let’s Do It’ 2023 concert raised an incredible £2,500. Flute players, Dinara and her daughter Kamilya, ex LET learners, have become valued members of the group – a great example of the benefits of LET to learners and the community.
Other fundraisers have included an International Afternoon Tea, and a 10th Anniversary Curry Lunch , a joint venture between learners and volunteers.