Citizens Advice East Herts: Help Us Help Others

by Esther McWatters in Buntingford, England, United Kingdom

We did it
On 5th August 2024 we successfully raised £11,090 ( + est. £668.75 Gift Aid ) with 85 supporters in 42 days

Citizens Advice East Herts is a charity. Please support us so everyone going through tough times can get our free, life changing advice.

by Esther McWatters in Buntingford, England, United Kingdom

 New stretch target

If we exceed our target, we will be able to put more money into maintaining our advice service so that anyone who needs help in East Herts can get it.  


AVIVA will double all donations up to £250 between now and 5th August

Please note that Crowdfunder will give you the option to pay them a "tip" - you can decide whether you want to do this or not.  

Citizens Advice East Herts is a local, independent charity that provides a vital service for the community. 

Every year Citizens Advice East Herts provides thousands of local people with free, impartial and reliable advice that helps them tackle challenges they face with housing, employment, debt, finance, consumer, family and so much more. We are the vital safety net for anyone who needs advice - many people turn to us before any other advice and information source because they trust us.

Whether it's dealing with the loss of a loved one, knowing your rights when you have been made redundant, finding out what benefits you are entitled to and how to apply for them or settling a dispute with your landlord, we are here when you most need us.  

Last year we helped nearly  6,000 people and, in the process, saved them over £2.4 million by enabling them to manage debt problems effectively, claiming benefits to which they were eligible, and by providing vital housing and consumer rights advice. 

Much of our service is provided by highly trained volunteer advisers who live in the community and want to ‘give back' to make East Herts strong, resilient and a happy place for everyone to live.  

 As a charity we must fundraise to run our free advice service.  While we are a member of the Citizens Advice nationwide network, we receive no funding from the overarching organisation or from central government.  All our funding comes from local council grants, charitable grants and foundations for which we have to compete, as well as community fundraising.   

As the cost-of-living increases, we're finding more people need our help, yet funding is harder to come by.  Over the last five years, our grant from the local council has fallen by 56% (including inflation).  This funding gap has meant that for the first time in 10 years, we have had to reduce our service by one day a week to save costs.  

 This is our first public fundraising campaign and we're doing it because we need your support.  Without it, we won't be able to help as many people in East Herts who so desperately need our help. 

 Can you help us to help our local community?  

 Your donation will be used solely to fund our free advice service.  

 No donation is too small - every penny counts.  Here is how we will be able to put your donation to great use: 

  • £10 will provide an adviser with a phone line for a month
  • £50 will pay for publicity materials providing support on the cost of living crisis
  • £90 will pay for a consultation with a trained adviser     
  • £100 will pay for a scams workshop in the community
  • £200 will pay for a specialist adviser to help a client apply for a disability benefit
  • £500 will provide the equipment needed to for an adviser to provide face to face advice from a hub or from their home
  • £1,700 will train a new volunteer to be a qualified generalist adviser
  • £2,500 will train a volunteer adviser up to a specialist level

 THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

Our sincere thanks to these fantastic local companies that are supporting our fundraising campaign with rewards for our donors:  Tewinbury Farm's Cowshed Restaurant,  Cut Loose Hairdressers, Messages Party Shop,  Albany Radio/Hertford Digital Radio, Coffee Lab, French and Day Delicatessen, The Salisbury Arms and Headlines Hairdressers.  


Rewards

This project offers rewards in return for your donation. Please select a reward below.

£150 or more

1 of 1 claimed

First person to give £150 donation reward

Sunday Lunch with wine for two at Tewinbury Farm's Cowshed Restaurant https://www.tewinbury.co.uk/eat-drink/cowshed/

£100 or more

0 of 1 claimed

First person to give £100

£60 voucher for Headlines Hairdressers, Bengeo https://headlineshertford.co.uk/

£125 or more

0 of 1 claimed

First person to give £125

Digital Radio Albany Radio, Hertford https://euronics.co.uk/albanyradio

£250 or more

£250 or more reward

Your name or logo on our website, a letter of thanks from our CEO and a social media shout out

£20 or more

1 of 1 claimed

First person to give £20

£10 voucher for Cut Loose Hairdressers, 10 Fleming Cres, Hertford SG14 2DJ

£25 or more

1 of 1 claimed

First person to donate £25

£10 voucher for Messages Party Shop in Hertford https://www.messagespartyshop.co.uk/

£50 or more

1 of 1 claimed

First person to give £50 reward

£20 voucher for Coffee Lab, Hertford https://www.instagram.com/hertscoffeelab/?hl=en

£50 or more

1 of 1 claimed

£50 Reward

£20 voucher for French and Day Delicatessen

£80 or more

1 of 1 claimed

£80 Reward

Afternoon tea for two at the Salisbury Arms in Hertford

Got an idea like this?

Over £200 million has been raised from our crowd to support the projects they love! Plus tens of millions more unlocked by our partners.