| TRICIA HELPS AIDS CHARITY GAIN
£135,000 GRANT About three
years ago, a large increase was reported in the number of new HIV positive diagnoses
particularly among children and heterosexual adults.
Around the same time, there was the introduction of anti-retroviral drug regimes,
which help prolong the lives of those who are HIV positive.
 For the Gloucestershire Aids Trust (GAT) this created a
dilemma. They were expanding from the
role of providing small financial grants to offering specific services to their clients. With more referrals creating a demand for their
respite weekends, advocacy and support groups, there was an urgent need for extra funds.
So they were both grateful and fortunate when Tricia Wilson of Cheltenham
came to them with her special brand of expertise and contacts. Tricia is a retired Warwickshire councillor, and
her experience enabled her to guide the Trust through a major reorganisation before
helping them to gain a lottery grant of £135,000
Tricia was put in touch with GAT by REACH,
the charity recruiting people with managerial, professional and technical expertise
for part-time unpaid work in the voluntary sector.
Out of the nine voluntary jobs that
she was offered, Tricia chose GAT because she felt that their aims would make best use
of her experience. She met the people and liked them. She also knew that a successful bid
for long-term funding meant that GAT’s approach had to be both practical and
professional.
“I felt confident that we were already responding well to our
clients’ needs and if we could show that we were realistic about our plans, there
would be a funder who would support us,” she says.
The Trust moved its work from volunteers’ homes into a rented office,
and Tricia was invited to join the management committee.
They then developed key policy documents, a business plan and annual budget before
Tricia got down to her fund-raising work.
 She says: “There is no magic about raising funds .
It takes a business-like approach and hard work. Now,
thanks to the lottery and REACH, the HIV
positive people in the county are getting a much better service. One of the big things about the voluntary sector
is that you get to work with really committed people."
For Tricia, it has been a challenge that has also been tremendously
satisfying. The
grant will pay for GAT’s work for three years and will help it to provide a wider
range of support services for people diagnosed as HIV positive and their carers.
“Mrs Wilson has transformed our organisation. We have benefited so much from her business
expertise,” says GAT project co-ordinator, David Schermer. “With her help, we have gone from a group of
volunteers sitting around someone’s kitchen table, to a professional organisation
with an office and two employees.”
REACH London office: Tel: 020 7582 6543.
email: volwork@btinternet.co.uk website:
www.volwork.org.uk
Look
out for future features from Olive Braman in Reports From The REACH Files
To view previous
articles in this series - see the laterlife-interest
index page
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