MENDIP FOUNDATION IMPACT RIPORT 2023 - 2024 L, ADVENTURE -1 FORALL cty#ll74 FOUNDATION
Welcome to
This is our second impact report, and our third year of supporting our local community to access the mendip hills and adventure sports. It’s been an exciting year of rewilding and volunteering alongside strategy and strugture, and we believe we are now in a stronger position to respond appropriate to our communities needs.
contact details: maaf@mendipfoundation.co.uk 07517 885858
LYNCOMBE DRIVE CHURCHILL NORTH SOMERSET BS25 5PQ
our story SO FAR Our Mission
Our aims
“MAKING ADVENTURE ACCESSIBLE FOR EVERYONE”.
ACCESS: provide opportunities for people from disadvantaged/marginalised backgrounds and/or additional needs.
Mendip Access Adventure Foundation was created in December 2021 with five objectives:
- Prevention or relief of poverty
TRAINING: support people with additional needs, from less privileged and/or more diverse backgrounds to secure skills and qualifications needed for a career in the outdoors.
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Advancement of education
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Advancement of amateur sport
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The relief of those in need, by reason of youth, age, ill-health, disability, financial hardship or other disadvantage.
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The advancement of environmental protection or improvement.
ECOLOGY: increase local biodiversity and knowledge
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OVER
300
LOCAL
YOUNG PEOPLE
SUPPORTED
SO FAR ...
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The Big FOUR
1
Access Ecology programme
After a successful pilot of our Access Ecology programme last year, we opened it up to local schools. We supported 16 young people from two schools over 20 weeks. The young people have SEND and/or were disengaged with academics and struggling with school life. Our programme allows them to connect with the outdoors for wellbeing, and to see alternative careers available in landcare and conservation. This has become our flagship offering.
3
Access Adventure
We worked with Urban Uprising to provide climbing opportunities outdoors as part of their 10-week confidence building programme with young people. We also worked with our delivery partner on their HAF project over the summer, and took the mobile climbing tower to local events. We were funded by Snowsport England to train instructors to run learn to ski programmes for people with neurodivergence and/or learning disabilities, which will launch in autumn 2024.
2
Rewilding the site
We planted a further 400 trees creating wildlife corridors between two large tracts of woodland to allow safe movement to ground animals and insects. We engaged volunteers through the Duke of Edinburgh programme and the local community for this work. We also did some outreach work on the local campsite through making pollinator seed bombs with children. We explained our mission, and how people can support it. We also maintain three beehives on site.
4
Strategic planning
The trustees and manager have undertaken significant work around our five year plan, reimagining the focus of our activities to make sure they fit with our purpose and available funding. We are dedicated to three programmes of activity going forward: Access Ecology, for which we have an established work stream, Access Adventure, for which the groundwork has been done ready for launch, and Access Training, earmarked for 2025.
The next FOUR 1 Access Ecology scaling-up
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2
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Access Adventure
We have expanded the programme to accommodate 32 students from four different schools, and to be more in line with the curriculum. We want to build on this success by onboarding more schools partners, and working with the Local Authority.
We have a Snowsport club due to launch in Autumn 2024, plus we continue to build relationships with schools, colleges and external activity providers to support their work through free or discounted residential and day activities with our dedicated delivery partner.
3 Focus on training
4
Diversifying funding
We will be expanding training opportunities for young adults who want to work in the outdoors industry and come from disadvantaged backgrounds. We will focus on supporting women, non-white young people and those from lower socio-economic demographics - all underrepresented in the industry. We have established a funding model and will launch in 2025.
We’ve had a successful year with fundraising through grants and trusts, but we would like to seek commercial partnerships and expand our own outreach through fundraising events to secure a solid unrestricted income stream. We also work closely with our delivery partner on a donations programme through their shop, which will help fund our training stream.
Mendlp Access Adventure Foundatlon Period to 31rt March 2024 CIO 1196874 Income and Expendlture Account Income Oonatlons Gran15 ck•t Sales £i,iOO.¢ £13.080.35 £123.95 Total Incom• £14,304.30 Exp•ndltur• 8ank Chargts Wages Residentlal C05ts Unlform Bees Prohect SEND Trainin8 Wlne Tastln8 event 8.40 £5,590.59 £5.520.LKI £206.88 £1,301.45 £243.39 92.36 £12,963.07 Tot•1 £1.341.23
Stakeholder feedback
Access Ecology students told us:
"This programme has made a real difference to our students' lives." - Teacher, Churchill Academy
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They felt 80% more confident than at the start of the programme - They felt friendships had significantly strengthened - They felt relationships with teaching staff improved - 100% of the students felt proud of their achievements on the course and One pupil told us he would like a career in the outdoors as a result.
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Staff told us they felt strongly the programme was a good use of student time that complemented the existing curriculum - exposed students to wider local knowledge and new ideas - was accessible and enjoyable.
MENDIP FOUNDATION THANKS FOR READING!