HALE
Bradford’s HALE Project beat over 350 charities from across the UK to take the prize as overall winner of the GSK Impact Awards 2010. This prestigious title is awarded by healthcare company GlaxoSmithKline and influential think tank The King’s Fund.
HALE stands for Health Action Local Engagement. The Shipley-based team of 19 part time staff were singled out for their innovative way of working with local people to tackle health problems such as obesity, poor mental health and sexual health issues.
“Young people probably know us as The Chlamydia Ladies” laughs project manager Natasha Thomas when asked how her team are seen. “People know us as a project that’s a bit different, we like to address health in a fun way.”
With salsa and belly dancing exercise sessions on offer this is clearly true, but the GSK Impact Award only goes to projects that have done outstanding work according to the highest possible standards. The judges were particularly impressed by the way the project empowers the groups it works with to become self-sufficient.
HALE registered as an independent charity in 2007. It had existed before that as a Big Lottery funded Healthy Living Project within the local NHS Primary Care Trust, but the funding came to an end and a new organisation was born.
“Neither Nasreen Ali, my co-worker, or I had much financial knowledge or understanding at the beginning,” outlines Natasha. “We were putting in bids for significant amounts of money, so it felt quite daunting, but that’s when WYCAS came along. Their help and advice enabled us both to understand how we needed to organise our finances to be able to progress.”
Dave Collins, the WYCAS Community Accountant for Bradford, initially visited the group every two months and now provides ongoing training and support to Nasreen, who keeps an eye on the finances. HALE has six or seven different funders and it’s not unusual for one worker to be funded from several different pots. Keeping on top of the funding streams, ensuring that targets are met, results are fed back and there’s no doubling up is just one of the financial challenges of running this project.
The team are also full of praise for WYCAS’s Full Cost Recovery training course. Understanding how to divide core costs between projects has helped them to feel more in control as they plan future bids and commission tenders. According to Nasreen , “What had seemed daunting at the beginning has soon become second nature.”
“The GSK Impact Award was a reflection of our financial state of health, skills and efficiencies as much as our other achievements”, concludes Natasha.
(Photo: Nasreen Ali and Natasha Thomas receiving the IMPACT award)