Charities face growing financial pressures

"If we don't have enough money, we will not [be] opening our doors after 4 September. Our doors will be shut and that will be devastating".

A charity that has been running for 38 years is on the verge of closure due to financial strains including a decline in membership, donations and funding.

Debs Heffernan, centre care manager at Age Concern Twyford, said that the charity has been struggling for the last eight months and that they have "hit our reserves, we are in the red and we are not financially stable enough to keep this going".

The charity offers day care for elderly members providing respite for family members and reducing isolation.

Age Concern Twyford operates a small independent social club that provides day care. The charity is independent of the other Age Concern branches that were absorbed by Age UK and has its own board of trustees.

Clients pay a daily fee covering activities, a hot meal and dementia-friendly care. A proportion are funded by the council.

Members are 'devastated' that the charity is permanently closing, including David Mansfield, whose father and mother-in-law are clients in the centre.

He said "We found out that they will have to close because their finances are not in good shape and we are devastated. These kinds of facilities aren't available in this area".

Asked what would happen after the charity closed, he thinks that his mother- and father-in-law "would be prisoners in their own home. We both have to work and we are the only family they've got so having a day centre to which we can bring them […] is an absolute lifeline to them and to us".

Client Renee Mumford said she does not know what she will do when it closes.

She said "I look forward to it. You can be yourself here. Everybody is friendly. Where I live I have lovely neighbours but we don't really talk and they have their own lives. […] I don't see them".

However, Age Concern Twyford is not the only charity facing challenges. The Charity Finance Group, which supports best practice in financial management within the voluntary sector, says charities are operating in a very difficult environment.

Dr Clare Mills, co-chief executive officer, said the group had seen "less income from donations, less security of income through things like public service contracts, and less time and scope for people to volunteer as well, all of which is having a real impact on charities' abilities to keep going and keep supporting those people and communities that they're there to serve."

According to the Charities Aid Foundation report, the British public donated £14bn last year, a drop of nearly 10% year on year and six million fewer people gave than ten years ago. Within the report one in five people in the UK reported that they could not afford to donate.

Another charity in Henley was on the verge of closure but has managed to turn things around.

Henley Music School provides music lessons for children in schools and was experiencing financial strain.

It offers bursaries, subsidies for schools and class music lessons, after-school clubs, and the free loan of musical equipment.

Founder Laura Reineke said that they are on "bare bones" and have funding but it will only last for a year.

"There's no three-year promises. There's no three-year pledges going on. It's all very much, last-minute and, and sort of emergency funding that's happening."

Home-Start West Berkshire is based in Newbury and supports families facing hardship. Its also seen demand for its services increase while funding has fallen.

Grace Green, charity director, said "I have been working for Home Start for ten years and it has never been tougher than it is now".

She added that they used to have multi-year grant funding but they don't receive that anymore so they are in a "position where every year the clock sets back to zero and we had to find a whole amount of funding right from the very start and that's a real challenge for us."

She said that getting grants has become competitive and funders are looking at niche charities or areas of deprivation. West Berkshire is a predominantly affluent area but has pockets of deprivation that are often overlooked.

Age Concern Twyford is trying to raise £10,000 to be open for one more month. If it does not secure the funding, it will close its doors on 4 September.