Northumberland charity launches its first ever public fundraising campaign

In an attempt to overcome the funding challenges hitting the third sector in light of the cost of living crisis, Blyth Star Enterprises has decided to try a new approach to fundraising in support of its most recent project – a horticultural initiative to transform a piece of barren or ‘waste’ land on the day services site at Stakeford Nurseries into a learning centre and training garden for its service users.

Having hit the halfway point towards its £139,500 fundraising goal back in July thanks to a generous £40,000 grant from The Jill and Norman Franklin Trust, Blyth Star has made great progress with the project so far.

After completing all of the groundworks to make the land ready, the construction of the learning centre building began on November 11.

The focus of the charity’s fundraising efforts now have turned towards kitting out the centre with all of the interior fixtures it needs and also the landscaping around the building.

Julie Dixon, chief executive officer at Blyth Star Enterprises, said: “Over the years, we have been incredibly fortunate at Blyth Star to find ourselves in a position where we haven’t been dependent on grants in order to survive.

“Instead, our philanthropic activities have always been focused on larger scale capital projects where we are looking to make improvements to our services which will benefit the individuals in our care.

“The barren land project is no exception to this and we are incredibly grateful to all of our benefactors who have helped us get to this point, but we still have a way to go to get to the finish line.

“A public-facing campaign is not something we have ever done before, but we thought, as it’s nearly Christmas, we’d give it a go.”

It is looking to raise £60,000 to cover the cost of purchasing furniture and technologies like smartboards and tablet devices, which can be used by service users in the course of their learning. It will also support the development of the land surrounding the learning centre.

To find out more about the barren land project and how you can get involved, go to www.blythstar.org.uk