Glasgow Simon Community is indebted to the generosity and encouragement of our funders and supporters which enables us to continue our work with homeless people.  We would like to highlight in particular the support of Glasgow City Council Social Work Department, the Scottish Executive, the New Futures Fund Initiative operated by Scottish Enterprise, Glasgow City Council Social Inclusion Budget, Supporting People, the European Social Fund, ‘Glasgow’s Learning’, the Scottish Community Action Research Fund and the Voluntary Action Fund.  We would also like to thank the many charitable trusts and foundation, companies, schools, churches and other places of worship, and other organisations for their support during the past year.

In addition we would like to express our appreciation to all the voluntary groups, churches, organisations, companies, schools and individuals who have given their time and talents, gifts of money and goods, raised sponsorship, attended our events, or volunteered in support of our work this year.  Thank you also to all those companies who donated auction and raffle prizes for our events, and food for our Annual Christmas Dinner for homeless people. 

2006 marks the 40^th Anniversary of Glasgow Simon Community’s work in the city.  If you would like details of our events or other ways in which you, your employer, or your church/school/local group can support our work, please get in touch with Sarah Hunter on 0141 418 6980.

The charity’s income for the financial year ending 31^st March 2005 increased from £2,946,968, to £3,203,570 - a percentage increase of 8.7%, thanks mainly to successfully attracting new funding to develop new projects, including the opening of Parkhead. It remains the case, however, that other parts of the organisation, in particular the soup kitchen, service user voice development and the core organisational structure, continue to be under-funded.  Each year the charity is required to raise substantial funding from charitable trusts, company giving, fundraising events, and donations from individuals and groups such as schools, churches, and other places of worship.  This year the charity was also fortunate enough to benefit from a number of legacies kindly left to us.  Income from these sources amounted to £67,336 in this financial year. 

For many years our residential projects at Maryhill, Dennistoun, Castlemilk and Tollcross have struggled with their level of funding.  We are very pleased that the Social Work Department’s Purchased Service Review that was completed in April 2005 will see these projects receive increased resources, with a consequent increase in staffing levels, providing a better service for residents. 

Many other parts of the organisation, however, continue to be dependent on short-term funding, which brings with it uncertainty and worry for staff and service users, and difficulties in forward planning.  Our street work and resettlement training services are funded through Local Outcome Agreements with the Council, and these have been reviewed this year and currently run until March 2006.   Our BUDS Project is in its final year of funding (until March 2006) through Scottish Enterprise’s New Futures Fund, augmented by a post funded by Glasgow City Council's Social Inclusion Budget and literacy work funded through ‘Glasgow’s Learning’.  The future of the project at this stage remains unclear, though much time is being spent trying to secure the work of this vital project beyond March.  Grants also came from Glasgow City Council Homelessness Partnership for the work of our Peer Education Programme, from the Scottish Executive for the final year of the PATHE Project, and from North Lanarkshire Council for the pilot Homeless Outreach and Research Project

The Supporting People funding mechanism remains crucial for our services.  Funding under this source enables us to carry out the work of our Resettlement & Housing Support Services, and our projects at Newlands, Govanhill, Parkhead, the core & cluster initiative in Castlemilk, and part funds the Tollcross Project.

It remains the case that many of our funding streams have again failed to reflect any inflationary increase, and combined with the growing regulatory demands being placed upon us, both as an employer and as a provider of care services, the charity must, and will, continue its efforts to increase both the amounts and regularity of funding from a growing range of sources.

Copies of the charity’s Annual Accounts are available on request.