The change YOU can empower...

At Blossom LGBT, we are dedicated to fostering a safe, inclusive, and supportive environment for the LGBTQ+ community. Over the years, we've worked tirelessly to provide resources, mentorship, and a platform for LGBTQ+ young adults to feel empowered. Thanks to the the generous support of New House Art Space we're planning to call Guildford our new home and create an office space that works for us and the LGBTQIA+ community alike. We're fundraising to take over a studio space and curate a multi-purpose space which will become and extension of our already impactful work empowering LGBTQ+ young adults, not just a place to store paperwork!  

How this helps...

Helping People Thrive Through One to One Mentoring We'll be able to offer local LGBTQ+ young adults the opportunity to move from online only mentoring into a hybrid approach. This is vital because it means that LGBTQ+ young adults who may not feel safe or able to come out as themselves at work can access our support authentically without fear. Getting People In Work Through Digital Employability Classes We'll make sure that geographical location isn't a barrier to building meaningful employability skills by offering online webinars & talks from the space! We know that for the LGBTQ+ people that we support, the cost of travelling can mean they can't engage with our work, this will be a meaningful step towards ending that! Making Our Community Feel Less Alone Through Podcast & Video Talks Isolation is a growing concern amongst LGBTQIA+ young adults with over 60% of under 25's experiencing feelings of isolation 'often or very often'. Whilst we know our physical spaces do a great job of reducing that feeling for locals, we want to ensure that we're finding new and exciting ways to connect LGBTQIA+ people nationally. Ending Systematic Discrimination Through Workplace Support We'll offer consultancy, training, and ongoing diversity and inclusion support to businesses both in person and virtually from this space. Meaning that we can continue to ensure that when a LGBTQ+ young adult finds work - they can thrive. Giving our Team a Healthy & Safe Work Environment Working from home is a joy to many, however, working in our sector can be really mentally challenging. On a regular basis our team will hear about trauma, discrimination, and almost impossible life circumstances  - A lot of which will be similar to their own - which can have a significantly damaging impact on their wellbeing. We know that for our team to be able to consistently provide high levels of service they require a space to vent or cry, to be around others, and ensure that their homes are a place to relax and switch off.  

What our community can do...

If we're able to raise £375: We'll be able to move our team into this new office with the basic resources that they need to continue smashing our work empowering LGBTQ+ young adults. We'll purchase desks, desk chairs, storage space, and general office supplies. If we're able to raise £875: Raising £870 will allow us to create a one to one space where we'll offer mentoring, inductions for new members, and meeting spaces for service users and clients. We'll purchase meeting chairs, a small table and some basic comfortable furnishings to make people feel more safe and secure. If we're able to raise £1,250: By raising £1,250 we'll be able to invest in video & podcasting resources allowing us to offer employability classes, digital support, and far more on a national scale. We'll purchase tech such as microphones & lighting along with a few additional items to make the space more inviting. If we're able to hit our overall goal of £1,500: By raising £1,500 we'll be able to invest in collaboration tools meaning that all of our work within this space can be delivered both virtually and in person in real time - allowing people to get involved regardless of if they can join us in the space or not.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do you need this space?
Whilst the benefits to our team and the LGBTQIA+ community are mentioned in the description there is an additional motive behind our move. Up until now our registered office has been our founders home address. Due to the political climate surrounding LGBTQ+ people, this puts our founder at a considerable safety risk. This was demonstrated earlier in the year when they received a particularly concerning threat to their safety which acknowledged their address. Beyond this, we know organisational stability is important and want to ensure that should our founder ever leave, we still have a registered office.

Why not apply for a grant?
Most grant makers want to see a contribution from a third party, this is called match funding. Whilst we'll be looking for a grant to cover the cost of the monthly rent and utilities, we need to show that we've found support elsewhere to make this happen.

What about the money you already have?
So far this year we've received really generous grants from the National Lottery Community fund and the People's Postcode Lottery via the Postcode Society Trust. Both of these grants are restricted, this means they have to be spent on a particular project and cannot go towards the 'core operational costs' of the organisation such as our CEO's salary, office space, or accounting.

Why Guildford & will this impact any of your work in other boroughs?
Up until now Blossom LGBT has been based in Woking, since our launch we've tried to work with borough council to access support towards our operational costs to cover the cost of operating our head office in Woking but have never had such support. With the new council outsourcing their nonprofit support to the Community Foundation for Surrey and our subsequent rejection by the foundation, we've realised it's time to look further afield! Guildford, and particularly New House Art Space, offers a closer connection to our target market, an exciting vibe and feel, and is easier to access from West Sussex & Berkshire which supports our growth plans.

There will be absolutely no change to our existing services in Woking but will support our future services to spread across the South East of England.

Why New House Art Space?
New House Art Space offers a creative hub full of culture, innovation, and excitement. Beyond being home to truly fantastic artists, the space also welcomes small businesses and self employed individuals. This means we can share ideas and connect with more small businesses! We also run our regular LGBTQIA+ art workshops from the space so a closer working agreement is great. We've developed an in-kind agreement with New House Art Space where we'll be supporting them to build industry leading Diversity and Inclusion functions whilst we're there.

What if you don't hit your targets?
If we aren't able to reach out targets we'll evaluate depending on how much we do raise. Whilst our goal is to provide comfortable, high quality, suitable equipment for each venture - We're certainly not above charity shopping & ebay to get what we need. That being said, every penny we are able to raise means we can pour more of our income from training & consultancy back into our existing and new services.

What if I can't contribute much/anything but still want to support?
Every single penny we raise matters because it means that we can channel more money from our other income streams back into our free services for the LGBTQIA+ community. That being said - if you want to support this mission in a non-financial way we'd really love your help spreading the word and shouting about our plans so that we can hopefully reach even more people!

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