How to help charities grow? Ah, there’s the hub
◆ Shared spaces are a great way to provide unity of purpose and a permanent home for organisations, writes Cor Hutton
Since the inception of Finding Your Feet (FYF), Scotland’s leading amputee charity, we relied on the goodwill of business owners and office managers to provide a home for us, either for free or at hugely reduced rates. This let us deliver much-needed support, events and activities for the limb loss community who have come to rely on us.
Still, we faced a continued challenge – our workspaces weren’t permanent. With the need for our support increasing, we needed somewhere that offered our team a secure place to continue providing vital services for those who have been through an amputation.
That permanent space came in the shape of our current facility in the heart of Paisley. Initially we moved into the unused St James House, taking up a corner of the ground floor. We worked there up until the Covid-19 pandemic when, unfortunately for a building with so much potential, it became empty once more. There was something there to be capitalised on, though, and we did just that when we were able to safely switch back to being office-based. By securing the entire building – four floors and a car park – there was an opportunity not only for us to thrive, but to open the door to other local charities which may have had the same struggles in the past.
Fast forward a couple of years, and with plenty of generous donations and successful grant applications, the FYF Charity Hub is home to 11 organisations supporting the community. Help for carers, new families and people with addiction issues is provided within our walls, as well as short-term rentable spaces available at a reduced rate. With this working well, we set our sights further afield.
In 2022, Network Rail gifted us an overgrown green space underneath the picturesque railway arches behind our building. An incredible, and ongoing, effort from volunteers has helped turn it into a fantastic sensory garden.
The longer-term goal is for our sensory garden to be a space, not only for the charities who share our Hub, but for the wider community, too. With the help of Tony Smith, a green-fingered amputee we support, the garden is flourishing. We’ve even brought in local graffiti artists to give it a bit of style and several businesses have been regularly volunteering to keep it tidy. Collaboration is key here and we’re excited that a new bandstand may soon be built thanks to fundraising efforts from civil and structural engineering consultancy Will Rudd. This is just the latest example of good-hearted people being the driving force behind community spaces like ours.
This year, FYF will celebrate its tenth anniversary, a milestone that allows us to pause and reflect on the lessons learned over the last decade. A key lesson is that working together with other charities, companies, volunteers, funders and donors is the true meaning of community. The result is initiatives like the FYF Hub and our garden, which can provide real opportunities for charities and a lifeline for the people we collectively support in these tough economic times.
Perhaps we can be seen as a success story of how a shared hub space can allow charities to collaborate, support each other and, most importantly, continue to provide their vital services.
Cor Hutton, Founder, Finding your Feet