Carers FIRST
Carers FIRST is a medium sized charity that supports unpaid family carers in Kent, Medway and Lincolnshire. We have re-designed our staffing model which has resulted in us managing the charity through a small Senior Management Team of five. Over the past few years we had recognised that we were in need of support in our grant and tender writing for the organisation.
In April 2015, Carers FIRST began to work with Competitive Solutions, in order to provide us with a critical friend and some advice and guidance around the funding opportunities open to us. The Competitive Solutions team spent some time getting to know the services Carers FIRST offers to Carers and having built a profile on the charity and its ways of working, they began to identify grant funds that would be appropriate for us and would support our funding needs.
We have at all times found Competitive Solutions to be responsive and eager to support our Charity.
Competitive Solutions supported Carers FIRST in the submission of grant funding applications to Children in Need and Henry Smith, both of which were successful and in getting through to Stage 2 of Reaching Communities funding.
We have found working with Competitive Solutions a positive experience for the Charity and look forward to working with them again in the future.
During our year with Competitive Solutions, we had the opportunity to bid for three local authority contracts and they supported us in writing and submitting these tenders. This helped the Charity to broaden its geographical reach and allowed us to be on the preferred provider framework to continue with existing work.
Competitive Solutions made meeting with us a priority when we had tight deadlines and all of the team were always professional and knowledgeable about their particular areas of expertise.
Carers FIRST
Registered Charity No: 1085430
