ImpactNewsOCFANIMATED GIF ARE YOU CONCERNED WITH HOMELESSNESS

Over £150,000 has been raised for the homeless in a Christmas match fund appeal. All donations made to Oxford Homeless Movement between Sunday 1st December and Monday 6th January were doubled by Oxfordshire Community Foundation (OCF). As final pledges and cheques came into the office, together with our ability to claim any Gift Aid declarations, we have now exceeded our £150k target. 

The success of this campaign has proved the results of research commissioned by OCF earlier in 2019 showing that local people care about homelessness. The research found that 40% are ‘very concerned about homelessness and rough sleeping’ compared to 30% nationally. Read the full YouGov research report.

OCF is a founding partner in Oxford Homeless Movement and the partnership hoped to raise £150,000 in a Christmas Match Fund campaign. The money raised will now be divided between homelessness charities in Oxford, a new homeless shelter in Floyds Row off St Aldate’s which opens this month, and a new impact fund which will support the development of new services where there are gaps in existing provision. This new impact fund will be opened for applications on 23rd January as part of OCF’s delivering impact grants round.

Jane Cranston, Chair Oxford Homeless Movement said: “Everybody can do something to help and I feel humbled by the generosity of the people, businesses and trusts who have contributed – thank you all so much! We want 2020 to be the year that Oxford comes together to help ensure nobody should have to sleep rough on the streets of our city. The money so generously given to the Christmas match fund will help make a vital difference in achieving that goal.”

For the second year running the Oxford Mail backed the match fund campaign and their support really made a difference as local people were kept up to date with regular news stories. Editor Samantha Harman said: “I’m over the moon the Christmas match fund has been such a success this year. People really got behind the campaign and I know the money raised will now be put to good use by the various homelessness agencies that are working hard together to tackle this problem. I’m sure the Oxford Homeless Movement would agree that this is no time for complacency as unfortunately the issue of rough sleeping in Oxford is not going to go away overnight. Hopefully people will keep making donations to help the homeless throughout 2020.”

Find out more about  OCF and Oxford Homeless Movement