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Basic Needs: model farm run by self-help
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Founded in February 1965 as the Phyllis Trust, the charity was later renamed in 2004 as Andrews Charitable Trust.
It is the principal shareholder of the Andrews & Partners estate
agency business whose profits and staff continue to support it to this day.
Below are messages from the Chair and Director of ACT as well as details of former partner's experience of working with us over a number of years.
Welcome from the Chairman of the Trustees
 "Hello
and welcome to the Andrews Charitable Trust website. We
thank you for taking the time to find out more about us and
our work.
With our unique heritage, the ACT Trustees want to make social
change happen by working with individuals and organisations
to deliver services which are innovative, replicable and sustainable,
alleviate poverty and/or promote the Christian faith.
The work of ACT is made possible by the endeavours of the
staff team of more than 500 Andrews & Partners staff which
generates the profits that we are thereafter able to distribute
to support social entrepreneurs. We want to recognise and
thank them for their input.
God Bless."
- Andrew Radford, Trust Chairman
Message from Director, Siân Edwards
 "Welcome
to our site. We hope you find the information contained
in this website, along with examples
of work we support and a clear outline of what
we don't do to be valuable. We have chosen to put
all information about ACT on this website and do not have
additional policies, criteria or materials.
Please take time to read what's on this site and then, if
you have any queries, do give me a call or send a brief e-mail
and I will get back to you.
We seek to maximise the impact of our funds, and are able
to support only 2 or 3 ventures each year.
Best wishes."
- Siân Edwards, Director
Words from our partners in social change
Catch-Up
'We approached Act when we believed we had a great idea to
help young people who'd been left behind in their reading
at an early age; but we needed the business and funding support
that ACT could provide to help us shape the development of
our materials, target our training to teachers and teaching
assistants - and have time to prove that our approach worked
and could become sustainable through growth. The 3 years
of funding and support we received from ACT built for us a
secure foundation which enables us to meet the needs of an
increasing number of struggling readers across the UK'.
- Julie Law, Catch-Up Director
Credit Action
We worked with ACT funds and Trustee input to scale-up our
educational work to prevent people getting into debt and to
help those in it get out. We now have a staff team,
structure, support and materials which can reach many thousands
of people each year. Importantly, we are invited to
input to government and industry policy discussions on the
issues of debt and the impact that lending and borrowing practices
have on all our lives. The original funding from ACT
to help us respond to demand and grow our work has meant that
other funders and partnerships became possible and this, in
turn, has helped us become viable for the longer-term. -
Keith Tondeur, Founder President
Digital Links
We collect computers from UK businesses, refurbish them and
then ship them to a number of African countries. Working
with local partners we ensure the computers are targeted to
those who most need them - community development workers,
teachers and young people - and that these people are trained
in their use. Funds from ACT helped us develop our work
with a range of businesses in the UK as computer donors and
also with our partners in different countries. The £100,000
over 2 years, along with other investors, helped make this
work happen which benefits all those involved. ACT funding
has also helped us to build Digital Links into a sustainable
organisation. - David Sogan,
Chief Executive
BasicNeeds
All over the world, mental illness carries a terrible stigma
for the sufferer and their families. There is little
or no service provision for this group and maybe no support
for either them or their families. ACT supported us
from the word 'go' and enabled us to set up our organisation,
which which now champions a Community Mental Health and Development
model in the rural and urban context. We now work in
five countries (India, Sri Lanka, Ghana, Tanzania and Uganda)
and are continuing to grow. With a lot of Trustee support
from ACT, as well as near to £1million funding over
more than 5 years, we have been able to develop essential
services to those who need it most. Our work is now
sustained through UK government funding and other donors and
we continue to ensure these marginalised groups' needs are
met and will help to reduce the stigma of mental illness.
- Amelia Fitzalan Howard, Chair
of BasicNeeds and Trustee of ACT
Read about our heritage. more
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