Acorn are proud to announce the Cumbria Overseas Aid Trust (COAT) as our chosen charity.

Acorn will be supporting this charity with donations, office supplies and admin time, and helping at fundraising events along with doing our bit to raise the profile of this small but effective charity.

COAT is a small Cumbrian-based charity that uses all money donated towards helping others in some of the poorest regions of the world. Using a set of fixed criteria, they support projects within communities with grants up to £2,000.

In addition, since 2019, Acorn have been sponsoring Josepha from Kigali in Rwanda.

We will be contributing to Josepha’s education through the Kinamba Community Project (www.kinambaproject.org.uk) and our sponsorship will cover teacher’s salaries, school uniform, materials and food, ensuring that she gets at least one good meal per day whilst she is at school.

Acorn will be supporting this charity with donations, office supplies and admin time, and helping at fundraising events along with doing our bit to raise the profile of this small but effective charity.

COAT is a small Cumbrian-based charity that uses all money donated towards helping others in some of the poorest regions of the world. Using a set of fixed criteria, they support projects within communities with grants up to £2,000.

In addition, since 2019, Acorn have been sponsoring Josepha from Kigali in Rwanda.

We will be contributing to Josepha’s education through the Kinamba Community Project (www.kinambaproject.org.uk) and our sponsorship will cover teacher’s salaries, school uniform, materials and food, ensuring that she gets at least one good meal per day whilst she is at school.

Fundraising for COAT is carried out by a small team of dedicated individuals through such activities as garden parties, craft sales, BBQs and quizzes run in various locations throughout the county. In 2021 the following donations were made:

£400

Providing mobile phones for training facilitators – Democratic Republic of Congo

£600

To buy 40 uniforms to allow children to attend state schools – Cambodia

£360

To buy one month’s rice for children living around dumps in Manila – Philippines

£1440

For a village water pump and equipment for the Village Water team – Zambia

£1000

To help expectant and young mothers go back to work/education – Sierra Leone

£500

Supporting Covid-19 relief work – India

£250

To build a fence around a well at a centre for women and children living on streets – Kenya

£300

Building a bakery at a centre for children with disabilities – Sierra Leone

£700

Towards the Shinyanga Pig-keeping project – Tanzania

£500

For vocational training for young people – Ghana

£500

For prosthetic limbs for amputees – Gambia

£400

To construct a well to provide safe drinking water – Mozambique

Funding Criteria

Projects presented for funding are considered flexibly against the following criteria:

  • Projects which contribute in some way to the relief of poverty and which will have some long-term and sustainable benefits to a local community.
  • Projects where it is possible to get some feedback following expenditure of the grant so this feedback could be used to educate and better inform both trustees and the local Cumbrian population where appropriate through talks etc.
  • Projects where there is some local Cumbrian connection, either through individuals involved or the origins of the organisation.
  • Projects where COAT’s contribution can be clearly identified in costed proposals and/or trustees can be confident as to the viability and integrity of the project.
  • Projects should be non-party in politics and non-sectarian in religion.
  • Funds for young people from Cumbria travelling abroad to work on a project which contributes to the relief of poverty and which will have some long-term and sustainable benefits to a local community.
  • The usual ceiling for a COAT grant would be £2000, subject to trustees discretion. However, most grants given are for less than £1000.

For more information please visit www.cumbriaoverseasaidtrust.org.uk

If you’d like to find out more about the work of Cumbria Overseas Aid Trust, please visit their website via the link below.