First Steps Charity 

Heart launched its official on-air charity appeal, “First Steps”, in September 1995.  Since the launch we have raised in excess of £1.23 million for worthy causes in the area.  The First Steps Appeal supports a range of charities from large organisations to local community playgroups.  All funds that are raised for the charity are done so by Heart listeners, and it is therefore very important to the Trustees that funding goes back into the local community.

As our target audience is aged 25-44, and is predominantly female, the main aim of “First Steps” is to raise money to support various local charities, which provide help in the areas of fertility, foetal well-being, babies and pre-school children.  These are areas which are likely to be of interest to our listeners.

We are now accepting applications from organisations which may be launching specific projects or initiatives which would benefit from our involvement.

The main criteria are:

• We can only support capital projects – e.g to purchase new equipment
• We are looking to support both new and existing projects
• The money must benefit people in the Heart catchment area
• We can only support projects which fit with the “First Steps” aims above
• We are unable to provide funding to support running costs or salaries.

If you have a suitable project and would like to put it forward for consideration, please download, complete and return an application form by Thursday 31st July 2008. 

Your application will be considered at the next Trustees Meeting which will be held early in September 2008.  We will inform you of the Trustees decision as soon as possible after the meeting

Successful applicants can expect to receive funding in October, subject to receipt of the required supporting documentation.

If you would like to discuss a possible application, please contact Vikki Webb using the email form below: