It is with a very heavy heart that I have to announce that I plan to wind up the Borders Wellness Retreat charity.
Times have been tough for many charities over the last couple of years, and quite rightly, the key focus for many funders is now to support people through the cost of living crisis.
Having applied to in excess of 20 different funders in recent months, and received ten rejections and silence from others, it is now proving untenable to keep the charity going.
Feedback from one major funder told me that whilst they whole-heartedly support the concept behind Borders Wellness Retreat, they could not afford to provide funding for everyone who was impacted by cancer in Scotland – and therefore, the concept of wellness retreats was not then universally accessible by everyone.
There was also feedback that if I had owned dedicated premises, then that would have been easier to fund – but I was also then informed that there is no funding available for me to get a permanent base to run wellness retreats – so it was becoming a bit a paradoxical loop.
I had hoped to have a fundraising event to provide a cash boost to organise more retreats, but this is not financially possible now.
The charity landscape is very crowded, and therefore very competitive when it comes to funding applications, as well as fundraising initiatives.
So, I finish up with the fact that the charity helped 25 individuals in different ways, and hopefully this extended to friends and families as well.
Any final funds once the accounts have been finalised will be passed to another charity that has similar aims, and as agreed with OSCR. The alpaca teddy’s stock will be passed to another charity which can continue to sell them in order to raise funds for themselves too.
There are many people who have given their time, skills and efforts over the years of our operation. I will do a final post as and when the process is finalised through OSCR, but in the meantime, thank you to everyone for all of the love, support and kindness you have shown over the last 4 years.
It’s been an amazing and humbling experience to help ‘people like me’. But the tagline will always be strong and hopefully resonates with everyone who benefitted from the charity.
‘Take time. Be you.’ 