Beam

The crowdfunding, social impact business that supports homeless people through training and into work.

www.beam.org

Grant Amount: £40,000

United Kingdom

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Background

According to Shelter’s 2018 analysis, more than 320,000 people in the UK are currently homeless. These include significant numbers of veterans, refugees and single mothers. Beam provides homeless adults with the key things they need to get into stable, paid work and become self-supporting, primarily through employment training and a support network.

Following a referral from one of over 15 homelessness charity partners, Beam crowdfunds the cost of the highest quality employment training ever provided to homeless people. Crowdfunding is sourced through the Beam website. All training is provided by vetted third-party training providers - who are also reviewed by the members themselves. In addition to employment training, Beam can flexibly crowdfund any other necessary costs - such as childcare, tools, and transport.

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Funding Focus

To create impact at far greater scale, Beam required someone whose full-time remit is building partnerships with companies, large and small. As well as creating partnerships to achieve a growing number of employment outcomes for homeless people, this person would also be working to generate revenues from partnerships, to contribute to Beam’s ongoing sustainability.

The RG Foundation funding will help Beam fund this new position and contribute towards their continued growth.