Where do your donations go? Find out in our Annual Report

Person next to white text reading 'our annual report' with blue shapes where do your donations go — We have achieved some fantastic things for our clients this year and as always we couldn’t do it without our supporters, partners and friends. These are uncertain times and we appreciate this even more than usual!

When you donate to us, we hope you have a rough idea where the money will go.

You probably expect it to go towards food for people living on the streets, coats to protect them from the cold them or even supported housing.

While this is all true, your support (whether this is time or money) also achieves so much more!

The Connection’s work gets to the root(s) of how someone came to us so we can personalise the support they’re offered to their exact needs. This people-centred approach has helped us achieve so much in the last year and, thanks to your support, we’re proud to share some highlights from 2021/22 below.

What issues were we facing?

There were 2,440 people estimated to be sleeping rough in England on a single night in autumn 2021, according to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. This is the most severe and visible form of homelessness and can include being bedded down on the street, or in other open spaces or places, such as doorways, stairwells, parks or derelict buildings. Learn more here

Westminster had the highest number of people sleeping rough in the country, with 187 recorded on a single night.

This high level of need can mean our resources are stretched, but we never let it affect the quality of support for those sleeping rough.

What have your donations achieved?

Here are just some of the outcomes from our work in the last year:

White text on green and purple background reads, 178 people moved into new accommodation with our support, 318 people sleeping rough were supported by Outreach Team, 74 people attended our Outreach Prescribing Clinic for flexible support with drug and alcohol treatment

White text on purple and blue background reads, 41 people attended employment training or workshops, 22 people were accommodated in self-contained flats at St Martin's House, 131 people attended our groups, including the art room, women’s group and others

Find out more here.

But what we do is hard to measure in numbers. We focus on building relationships to support people, earn their trust and restore their faith.

We get to know each person we work with. People like Antonio, who grew up moving in and out of care, and has experienced traumatic events throughout his life. We met Antonio when he was sleeping on the streets near Trafalgar Square.

It wasn’t easy for Antonio to trust anyone, but over time he built up a real relationship with our staff. Eventually he felt able to accept help with his both his mental and physical health. Now he’s moving off the streets into his own place and he’s applied for volunteer work with a charity.

What’s next for The Connection?

Our current goals are to:

Be providing services for 1500 people a year to help those who are rough sleeping, with complex and multiple barriers, to recognise their strengths, recover from crisis and move on.

Have grown the quality and impact of our services, working with people to overcome rough sleeping, with a focus on those experiencing complex and multiple barriers to recovery.

Have established Social Enterprise and Trading activity to increase income and our training offer to clients, particularly those moving into recovery.

Have increased our fundraised income from £2 million a year to at least £3m a year.

Have improved our profile and influence through excellent communications and evidence of impact.

Have developed our governance and corporate services infrastructure to ensure we maximise our potential.