If you feel inspired by the work of our charity and would like to support one of the seven Greater Manchester Home-Starts, there are a number of ways you can do so.

Become a home-visiting volunteer – across Greater Manchester, hundreds of volunteers visit families at home each week offering support, friendship, emotional and practical help. These volunteers must:

• Have parenting experience
• Commit to a training programme
• Undergo an enhanced criminal records check

To get a real understanding about the difference Home-Start volunteers make to families who are struggling to cope, watch our volunteering film, ‘Volunteer army’.

Become a trustee – all seven Greater Manchester Home-Starts have trustee boards that oversee the running of the charity.

They have a wide range of duties and are responsible for making the charity effective, providing overall direction and maintaining sound management of funds. Trustees volunteer their time and skills for free. The skills they provide can include:

• General business management
• Financial and legal expertise
• IT knowledge
• Human resources experience
• PR & media skills
• Knowledge of family support issues in the community

If you have the skills needed to help run a charity and would like to offer them on a voluntary basis, why not consider becoming a Trustee? Find out more about these roles here: Chair Treasurer Trustee

If you want to find out more about the role of a Home-Start trustee, please watch our film ‘We’re Asking’.

Become a fundraising champion for your local Greater Manchester Home-Start.

Home-Start depends heavily on donations to fund its work. Very often we’re the last chance for some families. Your generosity will help us reach out to parents and children who urgently need Home-Start support across Greater Manchester.

On average it costs local Home-Starts just £1,000 – £1,200 to support a family for an entire year. We use volunteers to support families, which is our unique way of helping. It also keeps overheads down. We can prevent family breakdown and crisis (which may involve costly, statutory services).

Home-Start is one of the most cost effective charities there is. But whilst volunteers give their time for free, volunteering does not come from free. Staff across the seven Greater Manchester Home-Starts has to source money to recruit and train volunteers and offer ongoing support and supervisions amongst many other ‘back office’ costs. The more challenges and complex issues that families face in the UK today, the more support our frontline volunteers need from the dedicated staff team at the Greater Manchester Home-Starts.

We appreciate the generous support we receive from our local authorities, as well as trusts such as Garfield Weston Foundation, Lloyds TSB Foundation, The Henry Smith Charity and the Tudor Trust, as well as funding from the Lottery and BBC Children in Need.

But at a time when local authorities are facing reductions in their central government budgets, there has never been a greater time for Home-Start to secure funding from other sources.

Can you help us to support even more families?

If you are a company or a corporate and would like to support your local Home-Start through your Corporate Social Responsibility programme, (CSR), there are many ways in which you can do so. You can:

• Choose Home-Start as your ‘Charity of the Year’.
• Hold a charity gala evening for Home-Start.
• Host a sponsored event such as a golf day or a charity fashion show.
• Offer some gift in kind support.
• Encourage your staff to fundraise for their local Home-Start.

These are just some examples of how to support Home-Start, if you would like to fund out how else you can help, contact your local Home-Start to discuss how your company can help local families and children.

If you are an individual looking to support a local charity, there are plenty of ways to help. Here are just a few ideas:

• Choose your local Greater Manchester Home-Start for a sponsored event- a run, bike ride or swim.
• Hold a coffee morning, raffle or afternoon tea party.
• Organise a bag pack at your local supermarket.
• Choose Home-Start as your charity for the Great North Run or the Manchester Half Marathon.

Help your local Home-Start to put even more smiles back on the faces of children across Greater Manchester.

To find your nearest Home-Start please visit the Contact Us page.