The Doula UK Access Fund covers the expenses of Doula UK doulas volunteering to work with local clients in financial or personal hardship, enabling those on a very low income, or who have been referred by a charitable partner (such as a women's refuge or refugee agency) to have the support of a doula.
To date the Fund has been financed out of Doula UK’s Membership income and from modest donations. In recent years demand for the service has risen, but we have been unable to generate more income for it, to meet that demand.
In October 2017 the Membership of Doula UK voted to create an Access Fund Charity. As a charitable entity it is our hope that the Fund will receive the support necessary to ensure that our vision that we ‘turn no woman away’ becomes a reality.
Doula UK needs support to create the charity. The money we aim to raise will cover administrative and staffing costs associated with the project, and cover the expenses of the newly formed Board of Trustees.
Doula UK will continue to resource the Access Fund by donating a portion of its income each quarter to cover the case work itself.