Scotland’s most populated city, Glasgow is home to over 3,000 charities, organisations, services, voluntary groups, and social enterprises. It is also estimated that over 110,000 Glaswegians (18% of the city’s population) do some form of unpaid voluntary work each week.
The range of causes covered by charitable organisations in Glasgow is highly varied, however the largest focus is on providing services for children, young people and families (20% of organisations). Furthermore, over 600 organisations across the city work with more than one equality group, from women, BMEs, refugees, asylum seekers, and people with disabilities. There are a number of charity events that take place in Glasgow, but perhaps the most iconic is the annual Kiltwalk in September.
Charities in Glasgow:
With Kids
Based in the East End of Glasgow, an area with some of the highest levels of poverty in the UK, With Kids supports families of all backgrounds, providing children, parents and carers with the tools to manage their lives effectively. Central to this work are the core concepts of building self-esteem and resilience in children and giving parents/carers the practical and emotional support they need.
With Kids offers a variety of therapeutic services, including therapy aimed at helping children overcome difficult emotions such as Play Therapy. The charity also provides a number of virtual learning resources for parents/carers, as well as CPD workshops and other educational assets.
The approach at With Kids is to cater to the requirements of each individual, listen to their needs and respond accordingly. With Kids believes that everyone, given the correct support, knows the best solution to their difficulties.
Visit: www.withkids.org.uk
Street Cones
Established in 2014, Street Cones believe passionately that the Arts can be used to give people who are marginalized a voice to help themselves, as well as their wider community. Through learning from lived experience and constructing a path to change through the Arts, the charity achieves positive outcomes for individuals and groups.
Street Cones provide both single and multi facilitator workshops in safe environments. Each workshop is usually bespoke and designed from scratch, incorporating a range of pre-identified activities and exercises, as well as targeted tools such as objects, images and sounds.
The organisation empowers individuals through the development of communication skills, confidence and self-esteem. It also gives vulnerable people access to the Arts as well as education, training and job opportunities. Street Cones engage people in positive life enhancing creative activities as a route to learning and self-development.
Visit: streetcones.org
Pride Proms
Pride Proms is a charity that hosts events for young people in LGBT+ community who do not attend their own school proms as a result of fear, discrimination and prejudice. The events Pride Proms manage promote pride, inspiration and acceptance for all regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
The organisation’s mission is to provide safe, positive and educational events for the LGBT+ young people. Pride Proms creates opportunities for emotional growth, inclusion and freedom of expression for LGBT+ youths which they may not necessarily get from their everyday lives.
Pride Proms is the first charity of its kind in the UK, and its future goal is to host proms in targeted areas with the highest need in regards to LGBT+ population and levels of deprivation to raise awareness of the LGBT+ community.
Visit: www.pridepromsproject.com
Clyde River Foundation
The Clyde River Foundation is a charity dedicated to research and education throughout the River Clyde catchment. It’s mission is to pursue scientific understanding of the ecological health of the River Clyde and its tributaries, drive environmental improvements and build capacity for its stewardship.
The charity’s aim is to achieve this by maintaining an intensive ecological research programme to ensure it retains its unrivalled knowledge of the river system, by running education and community engagement projects across the catchment, and by working in partnership with other stakeholders.
As the Clyde is a recovering river, the foundation seeks to improve fish populations and their habitats and to increase engagement of local communities with their river. The Clyde River Foundation takes a catchment-wide approach to its scientific programme, with an emphasis on long-term monitoring to benefit management and conservation objectives.
Visit: www.clyderiverfoundation.org
Glasgow East End Community Carers
Glasgow East End Community Carers has been providing support to carers in the East End of Glasgow since 1991. The organisation was originally formed by a group of local people who had experience of having to care for someone and they recognised that many individual carers needed support, advice and information to allow them to continue in their caring role.
Working in partnership with others, the charity empowers carers by providing them with support and resources to improve their quality of life and develop the skills necessary to become more confident in their caring role.
Glasgow East End Community Carers offers a homecare service to those in the local area who require extra support for daily living. The organisation is the leading care provider to all age groups from birth onwards and to those with complex care needs.
Visit: www.eastend-carers.co.uk
Alive & Kicking Project
The Alive & Kicking Project was established in 1988 by community activists to provide a centre for elderly and physically disabled people living in Glasgow's Greater Springburn area. Over the past thirty years the centre has grown and developed a wide range of services and facilities for its users.
From supported holidays abroad to live stage performances, the charity provides social, recreational and cultural activities to approximately 200 members of the local community. The organisation’s concert parties are immensely popular with the members who participate and the audiences at various community venues around Glasgow.
In 2008, the project was awarded the Queens Award for Voluntary Services, in recognition of twenty years of supporting the active elderly and disabled people in the city.
Visit: www.aliveandkickingproject.com
The Joshi Project
The purpose of The Joshi Project is to introduce a more compassionate and flexible system of mental health in Scotland to help those who require help but are stymied or oppressed by the confines of the current system. The charity’s goal is to introduce the “Trieste Model” of mental health care, a method of social psychiatry based on a hugely successful model that has operated in the Italian city of Trieste for over 40 years.
Essentially, the “Trieste Model” is a network of Community Mental Health Centres (CMHCs), which are interlinked with the community for the benefit of the individual’s recovery. CMHCs operate a 24/7, walk-in policy and provide single-point access in an informal but safe space, where individuals are treated with compassion and dignity, and given advice, treatment and counselling.
The Joshi Project’s initial aim is to establish a pilot CMHC in Glasgow and ultimately expand them throughout Scotland.
Visit: joshiproject.org
Urban Roots
Urban Roots is a community led environmental charity working across the Southside of Glasgow. It empowers local people to make choices and lifestyle changes that are beneficial for them, their communities and the environment.
The charity has transformed numerous derelict or unused green spaces into thriving, blossoming community gardens where herbs and vegetables, fruit and flowers can be grown. This makes the area look more attractive, helps to create safe social places and brings people together.
One example is Malls Mire woods, which has been changed from a neglected site for fly-tipping, into a thriving community run Local Nature Reserve, with an exciting program of conservation work, therapeutic activities and outdoor adventure play for children.
Visit: www.urbanroots.org.uk
You can also find out about charities in London, Birmingham, Hull, Bristol, and Wolverhampton.
