Greater Manchester Mayor’s Charity x Play It Green
In our latest positive news, The Greater Manchester Mayor’s charity has joined the Play It Green community and is now available for all our members to choose as a giving partner. Not only that but Play It Green will be supporting the charity and its team on their individual and collective journey of sustainability.
This amazing charity was set up by Greater Manchester’s very own forward-thinking Mayor, Andy Burnham to tackle the alarming issue of homelessness. Already supporting one of Play It Green’s giving partners, Coffee4Craig, Play It Green is proud to be collaborating with such a worthy and impactful cause.
We caught up with Frances Darlington-Pollock, the charity’s CEO to find out more about the charity and what its future holds.
Please, tell us a little about The Greater Manchester Mayor's Charity
The charity launched off the back of Mayor Andy Burnham’s election into office and his desire to see real and meaningful change for people experiencing homelessness across Greater Manchester. At the time, we were seeing record numbers of people rough sleeping. This meant the need for more targeted support and action could not have been clearer. Since we became a registered charity in 2019, our impact has been greater than anyone could have expected.
From the beginning, we played a fundamental role in establishing the flagship scheme ‘A Bed Every Night’ as one of its founding funders. To this day, it remains one of our key areas of support.
This initiative has reduced rough sleeping numbers across Greater Manchester by 75% since the peak in rough sleeping in 2017. Amazingly, the investment into this scheme was behind the low rises in rough sleeping for Greater Manchester in 2022. This is compared to the substantial rises seen nationally. We are, however, more than just A Bed Every Night.
Our grant-making expanded into two new areas of activity through the course of the pandemic. Firstly, Places & Spaces and secondly, Targeted Prevention. We want homelessness to only ever be rare, brief and non-recurrent.
This means targeted prevention and intervention to stop homelessness before it becomes a reality. Not only that, but meaningful support to people experiencing homelessness. This ensures it is a brief experience, and does not happen again. The more funds we can raise, the more schemes in these areas we can enable. Homelessness must not be either an inevitable nor an acceptable outcome for people at risk, and that is what drives our fundraising.
Why is sustainability important to you?
Climate justice and social justice issues are inextricably linked. You cannot achieve one without the other, but they can feel tricky to marry up. Recognising this, we have ramped up a gear in our commitment to our own net zero journey. We are exploring all options to become a more sustainable and impactful organisation.
As well as that, we are considering how we can help the organisations we support on their own sustainability journey. Collective action across the Greater Manchester community is needed to enact change. If we can leverage the convening power of the charity to support that, that is exactly what we have to do.
Why did you decide to collaborate with Play It Green?
Collaboration is at the heart of everything we do. You cannot be effective and you certainly cannot be pioneering without it. That’s why we wanted to collaborate with Play It Green.
They’re doing some real and interesting things in the space of sustainability within our city region and beyond. Not only is this a really powerful way to raise funds for the charity. It’s also contributing to our view that climate justice and social justice are inextricably interlinked.
What’s more, collaborating with Play It Green opens up lots of opportunities for us to learn and share as we develop our own approach on our sustainability journey. Also, importantly, how we do that in a way that can support the charities we work with.
What does the future hold for The Greater Manchester Mayor's Charity
Homelessness has no place here in Greater Manchester, and our future is about making sure that vision is a reality. That means growing our reach, growing our events, growing our fundraising, and therefore growing our grant-making.
We have a new calendar of exciting fundraising events that we know resonate with the people and culture of Greater Manchester. Furthermore, we are exploring lots of new ways to build our relationships with new and existing corporate partners.
We want to be able to channel the funds we raise into the unrivalled flagship programme, A Bed Every Night. Not only that, but to see increases in our grant-making across our ‘Places and Spaces’ and ‘Targeted Prevention’ streams.
It is partnerships like this one, the incredible support and generosity of the people of Greater Manchester, and our collective desire for change, that make our work possible. Together, we really can end homelessness.
For more information on The Greater Manchester Mayor’s charity head to their website at: https://gmmayorscharity.org.uk/.
Quotes
Frances Darlington-Pollock, CEO , Greater Manchester Mayor's Charity
“Play It Green makes it so easy for organisations to understand what they can do to build a greener and more sustainable future. That sustainable future is a society and a planet for everyone, where we can all live and thrive wherever we call home. Homelessness has no place in that future, or this present, and that’s why we’re so excited to be partnering with Play It Green.”
Richard Dickson, Co-Founder, Play It Green
“I met Frances at a networking event for the Good Employment Charter and we shared a lot of the same values. Being Manchester born and bred I feel proud, humbled and excited to be working with the Greater Manchester Mayor’s charity. Their work supporting people experiencing homelessness is making a difference and it feels extra special doing something in my hometown. We set up Play It Green to fight climate change through education and positive impact. With that in mind, we regift 10% of all revenue to good causes. We advocate members choose local good causes. I truly believe that this is a wonderful charity and as a Mancunian, this is an especially proud moment for me.”
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