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Relief Charity Support

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The Relief Charity Support Project seeks to provide support and advice to a group of charities which are among the oldest in the country. They are often small, very local, and largely unknown. Typically these charities hold land assets and derive an income from this which can be used to benefit specific vulnerable groups in the Parish.  (Although many now use assets derived from the sale of those lands)

The purpose of the project is to help these charities become more effective. They may face a number of challenges ranging from distribution of relatively small incomes, legal restrictions and identifying the local ‘poor’. We can help charities to update, refresh or reassess their role in the community by:

  • Running a proactive education programme that helps charities and their local communities understand the history of the Poor’s Land and Fuel Relief charities and examine their role in the 21st Century
  • Helping them to get the best return from the land assets they hold
  • Providing a toolkit and best practice case studies that look at uses of charity land, and the most effective ways to distribute funds
  • Providing advice on common issues such as agricultural tenancy agreements, land swaps, how to develop affordable housing, how to create other community uses for land e.g. a community orchard
  • Providing basic guidance on governance issues - bringing governing documents up to date, dealing with the Charities Commission, trustee roles
  • Providing advice to the charities on partnering with other organisations that provide services such as affordable housing, fuel poverty relief, access to services, emergency grants or food parcels, assistance with rent arrears, education, etc.
  • Promoting land use for much needed affordable housing for local people, where appropriate
  • Signposting to other support and creating opportunities to meet with other like-minded charities

If you are looking to develop your Poor's Land charity further, need to update, refresh or reassess how you manage your funds or just have a problem you need to solve we can help. 

The Relief Charity Support Project is funded by The Tudor Trust.  

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