Trinity Winchester - building up support for vulnerable people in Winchester

Futurebuilders invested £700,000 in Trinity Winchester (Trinity) to enable the charity to build a centre in Winchester from which to deliver open access services and to provide a base for outreach to homeless and unemployed people, people with poor mental health and to people who misuse substances.

About the organisation

Trinity was established in 1986 as a drop in centre in a church hall, offering support to young unemployed people. As the centre had an open-door policy it soon found that there were a wide range of issues that caused unemployment, which were not being tackled by other agencies in Winchester. From that time, services grew out of need identification and the expanding organisation moved to its own premises in 1994.

Chief Executive Michelle Gardner explains, “We are a local charity born and bred in Winchester. Trinity was formed by local people and that’s quite important really because there are lots of charities around but we’re quite proud of the fact that we’re home-grown”.

We like to be a creative and empowering organisation but not so much to exclude people who have basic needs. We have a lot of people who do go on to education, employment and get housing, but with others, success is measured with having the basic necessities to go on living such as food and bathroom amenities.

Trinity provides a drop-in service for people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless; who have substance misuse problems; poor mental health; or are at risk in some other way. The drop-in service provides a safe environment with food, bathing and laundry facilities; support, advice and signposting on a range of issues; clean needles, medical treatment and referral and complementary therapies.

“There was no other service like this in the Winchester area. We are different because really chaotic people can come here who can’t always go to other services – these are people who are really unstable with their drug and alcohol use and often there is just no place for them,” asserts Gardner. “There is lots of provision, but there isn’t necessarily a lot for the most entrenched street drinker or drug user, so that’s how Trinity comes into its own really.”

Trinity also offers supported learning opportunities, including courses on literacy, numeracy, ICT, cookery and art. In addition, it provides floating support for people in vulnerable housing situations who are in danger of losing their tenancies. Gardner declares:

“We like to be a creative and empowering organisation but not so much to exclude people who have basic needs. We have a lot of people who do go on to education, employment and get housing, but with others, success is measured with having the basic necessities to go on living such as food and bathroom amenities.”

Trinity approached Futurebuilders for investment to enable it to move to larger premises and to expand its service provision.

How Futurebuilders helped

“We looked towards Futurebuilders,” Gardner says, “because being successful with an organisation such as Futurebuilders gives us credibility so in effect other funders are more likely support us if they know that a reputable organisation is satisfied enough with the work that we do. They are a bit like the Big Lottery Fund – if you get funding support from Futurebuilders then other people think that you’re good enough to invest in, so it really helps with getting income.”

Trinity initially received a £500,000 Futurebuilders Full Investment comprising a £400,000 loan to fund the construction of the new purpose built centre; a £93,000 revenue grant to employ a development manager for three years; and a £7,000 capacity building grant towards the development of service delivery. Following this investment, an additional £200,000 bridging loan was agreed towards the end of the programme, to support the final build costs.

“The investment really saved us because the sale of our existing building fell through and if we didn’t have the Futurebuilders loan, we would have been really stuck and we probably would have had to stop with our new building project. It really helped us get out of an unforeseen mess.”

Increasing capacity and developing partnerships

Trinity was excited to move into its new building (Bradbury House) in May 2009. With more space and facilities Trinity is able to provide an accessible and much needed public service to a diverse and ever expanding client base – it now helps up to 60 people per day.

“We’ve taken on three new people since the opening of Bradbury House and have dramatically raised our public profile”.

Gardner proclaims that Trinity hopes to help at least 800 people each year.

The new building has enabled Trinity to expand its public service network in Winchester. With increased facilities Trinity is able to collaborate with other social care organisations to share knowledge, resources and enable a better network of cross referrals and advice.

“We are now much more attractive to other agencies who are potentially interested in coming to work with us – our new building has several other parties chomping at the bit to partner with us which will hopefully prove extremely beneficial for the people who use our services.”

Trinity has service level agreement contracts with Winchester City Council, Supporting People and service level agreements with Hampshire County Council. It also has contracts to provide services for Hampshire Learning and Skills Council.

Considering an investment from Futurebuilders?

If you are a third sector organisation delivering public services, or planning to deliver public services, you could be eligible for an investment from us.

• Find out if Futurebuilders is right for you
• Find out about our products