This report will discuss the charity from the date of operation through to what the future holds. Towards the end of this report I have concluded my findings.
In order to obtain the information needed I had a very thorough search through the various different resources listed under the references section of this report.
Before we discuss the charity what is Sickle Cell Anemia? Sickle cell Anemia is a genetic (inherited) blood disorder in which red blood cells, which carry oxygen around the body, develop abnormally. (www.nhs.uk/conditions) Awareness about this blood disorder in the past has been not been where it needed to be but thanks to The Sickle Cell Society they have successfully contributed towards the awareness that has been created nationally.
The Sickle Cell Society is a registered charity and their charity number is 1046631. They are based at 54 Station Road, London NW10 4UA and they do ensure that they offer local events plus support their local community. Yet they are still very much a national charity.
1979 was the date they were first set up as a charity and the great thing is that they were set up by a group of patients, parents and health professionals who were all in common agreement. They felt that more needed to be done to create awareness and understanding about the treatments sufferers of sickle cell need to have. (www.sicklecellsociety.org)
The charity has been going for a long while now and they have a very close eye on financial planning and also the execution of this is very important to them. The revenue for the year ending 31 March 2012 was £405,125 (2011: £384,756) whilst expenditure was £452,164 (2011:£465,808) resulting in a shortfall of £47,039 (2011:£81,052). The difference is made up by funds from the reserves. (Annual Report year ending 31 March 2012)
Everything costs money and the charity does offer a lot of different services. The services are as follows; Information literature about what Sickle Cell Anemia is, resources list of various different helpful links, on-line shop selling posters to promote awareness about Sickle Cell Anemia, training and education surrounding Sickle Cell Anemia, linking people with help groups and centers, guidance on getting tested, guidance and help with claiming benefits and finances, holidays for children with Sickle Cell, a welfare fund to provide financial help to individuals affected, an education fund to assist children and young people, who have missed out at school, a regional support care programmer, talks, seminars, and training to professionals plus the public, newsletter updates, providing a web-site and doing fund-raising events. (www.sicklecellsociety.org)
To run the charity and all the services they offer they do have and need a fantastic team. The people working within charity are as follows; 1 President, 8 staff members, 9 Patrons, 8 Medical Advisors, 14 Scientific Advisors and 5 Co-opted Board Members.
The ways things are run are paramount to ensure they are successful. And the network of volunteers, actually play an extremely vital role surrounding the running of the charity and they do provide administration back up additionally they help with fundraising.
Financial contributions from the public, fund-raising activities and membership fees are part of the support. If the Sickle Cell Society, are deprived of donations they would not be able to financially support the important welfare, research, educational based projects. The much needed holiday that is currently offered to sickle cell children would not be able to take place. Funding support which aids success is from the Department of Health, Community Fund, Goldman Sachs, PPP Healthcare Medical Trust and Lloyds TSB Foundation including many others. And