Funding update

Crunch time for SAGE Greenfingers

For some time SAGE has been struggling to secure its full running costs of circa £100,000 per year.  After knockbacks from several funders and with severe cuts across the public sector it became apparent in September that we needed to take radical action to secure the project for the long term.  After much deliberation Trustees decided that the only way forward is to reduce the project right down to a viable core, with the aim of building up a more sustainable business model from that core.

 Impact on project

This means that from January 2012 onwards we will run:

• One horticultural therapy session per week
• One volunteer gardening project per week 

Also the horticultural therapy session will only be open to adults who are able to pay for it, either via a personal budget under self-directed support, or other means. 

This is a very sad development for a charity that has always prided itself on providing a free service to any adult who presents with a mental health issue.  We are determined to invest as much effort as possible into further fundraising to enable us to expand the project back out again and offer free services.