Charity stays open after raising £43k in one month

A charity on the brink of closure will be staying open for the time being after it managed to raise about £43,000 in one month.

Staffordshire Sight Loss Association, based in Stoke-on-Trent, warned at the end of March it might have to shut its doors due to financial struggles.

The charity launched a last-ditch fundraising effort in an attempt to raise £100,000 by the end of April, which would have been enough to keep it open for the next year.

Despite donations totalling less than half the target, bosses have decided to keep the charity's main services running as they try to raise the remaining funds.

Suzanne Roberts, chief executive, told BBC Radio Stoke it had been "quite a month" and the £43,000 raised was "absolutely amazing".

"It isn't all the money that we need to raise to keep going for the year," she said, "but £43,000 is an immense about of money to raise in four weeks.

"It's purely down to the community getting behind us. We couldn't be more grateful to anyone out there that's helped us."

The charity covers the north Staffordshire area, where about 17,000 people are living with sight loss, a figure estimated to rise to more than 19,000 by 2030, according to the organisation.

It was founded in 2018 and was funded through National Lottery schemes between 2020 and 2025.

It had recently applied for funding from the National Postcode Lottery but it was rejected because of the high demand for grants, the charity said previously.

Roberts said the £43,000 had opened up further funding opportunities and trustees would explore these options in the coming months.

She said it was enough to keep the resource centre, social groups and community advice drop-in sessions running, though other services remained at risk.

Ian Wiltshaw, a charity trustee who is registered blind, said he received a lot of messages from people telling him how much Staffordshire Sight Loss Association had changed their lives.

He added: "That's what it's all about, changing people's lives – getting them out of their houses, flats or wherever they live and coming to join a community, which is so powerful.

"It's unbelievable and that's what I want to carry on doing. There's no way this charity can close. I don't care what it takes, I will do anything."

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