Trustee Carol Hart and head of fundraising Janet Pennington explain how, despite the pandemic, Alder Hey Family House Trust is still providing accommodation for the families of seriously ill children.
Every year, ‘Mac House’, as it’s affectionately known, is normally able to offer much-needed support to more than 2,000 families who are experiencing what is probably the toughest time of their lives. Since it opened in 1993, the charity has provided free accommodation for the relatives of children receiving care at nearby Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool.
Pre-pandemic, Mac House offered 84 en suite bedrooms, some accommodating up to four people and all equipped with everything you would find in a ‘home-from-home’. However, COVID-19 restrictions mean just 50 rooms are available and, unfortunately, the house cannot currently accommodate siblings or visitors.
Rethinking fundraising
Janet Pennington, the charity’s head of fundraising, says: “Research shows that having family close to a child aids their recovery, so our goal is to create a home-from-home for relatives near the hospital. But our staff also take pride in providing wraparound emotional and practical support – what we call the ‘hug from our house’.
“COVID screens and face masks mean a barrier between our staff and our families so inevitably we’ve lost some of that personal touch, which is frustrating for everyone.”
As an independent charity, funded almost entirely by voluntary and fundraising income from individuals, the charity needs to raise in excess of £700,000 every year to keep the doors open at Mac House. With most fundraising efforts being cancelled due to COVID-19, the charity is facing a devastating drop of approximately 60% in voluntary and fundraised income.
Janet says the charity is looking to digital platforms for solutions. “We’re looking at how the bigger charities are using digitisation and learning what we can adapt to suit us.”
Digital fundraising events should also bring longer-term benefits, Janet believes: “Physical events will usually only be attended by people who live in the local area, but our families and supporters from further afield in places like Wales, the Isle of Man and throughout the North West will have the opportunity to participate online.”
An emergency appeal just before Christmas 2020 focused on Amy and her family, who stayed at Mac House pre and mid-pandemic. Amy’s son Henry was born with a hole in his heart and had his second open-heart surgery in April 2020. Under the COVID-19 restrictions, Amy’s partner, sister and her other son George had to return home to Clitheroe, while Amy remained alone at Mac House. Despite the increased isolation she felt, Amy knew that a socially distant, yet warm welcome awaited her after a long and difficult day on the ward as she returned to her ‘home-from-home’ each night. After a long and complicated seven hour operation, and having to wait an additional 72 hours to hear if Henry had contracted COVID-19, Amy felt alone and extremely anxious but was so thankful to have the calm sanctuary of Mac House that meant she was only minutes away when she could finally hold her baby again.
Henry is now home and doing really well and Amy is forever grateful to the charity for keeping her at Henry’s bedside when he needed her the most.
In addition to raising vital funds, the appeal has been an opportunity to deepen connections with families who have benefited from using Mac House over the years and who continue to show their gratitude with donations and fundraising. The online appeal page gave families like Amy’s the opportunity to leave messages of support or to share their stories, and each one echoes the sentiment that Mac House really is the rainbow in the storm that families with a critically ill child face.
Strengthening that loyal support is a key part of a fundraising strategy focusing on more varied and sustainable income, including the charity’s regular giving schemes, lottery and its legacy programme. Janet says: “Regularity helps with financial planning and diversifying income streams means you’ve something to fall back on if one stream fails.”
Trustee Carol Hart pinpoints more corporate funding as another important goal. “We do have some smaller corporate partners already – many know about us because they have employees who have had some connection with Mac House – but we want to expand that support.”
Reserves lifeline
The charity is so grateful to its loyal supporters, who over the past 27 years have generously donated, carried out fundraising events and left legacies so the charity has been able to build up its free reserves, which are usually maintained at a level to cover 12 months of running costs. With greatly reduced income, Janet says Mac House’s decision to draw significantly on the charity’s reserves has been a vital “lifeline”. Carol adds: “The end of the 2020/21 financial year will be the first time that free reserves will have fallen below 12 months, and we anticipate an overall cash operating loss of at least £450,000 this year.”
Like many charities, the Trust’s investment portfolio, managed by Rathbones, saw a sharp fall in value at the beginning of the pandemic, but recovered by year end. “Rathbones did a great job for us,” says Carol.
The charity’s internationally diversified portfolio, overseen by its budget and audit committee, is usually focused on capital growth. However, the charity has had to withdraw over £300,000 from the portfolio this financial year to help pay for operating costs.
Carol says: “We’re hoping income from fundraising will pick up again for 2021/22, but there’s so much uncertainty. It’s all a balancing act between reserves, investment portfolio and fundraising.
“Rathbones is helping us to make decisions about our investments, but it’s a flexible situation. If our fundraising plans don’t come to fruition, we might need to draw down more from our portfolio.”
Lessons learned
Carol believes the events of 2020 have underlined Mac House’s importance in providing a frontline service and strengthened its relationship with Alder Hey Children’s Hospital. But she also feels they have vindicated the charity’s prudency in building up reserves. “The pandemic has provided a perfect argument for the value of those reserves. Without them, we would be in a dire situation.”
Janet agrees relationships have been key in 2020: “The relationship we have with our loyal support base, which we’ve had to draw on this year, is so much stronger.” She adds: “We are focusing on diverse income streams and growing our regular giving programmes to help increase future sustainability so that this charity can continue to provide a lifeline for families.
“We’re looking to be bold and ambitious in making changes – but still realistic about what we can achieve. This is an organisation that’s not scared of change, which will help us through these difficult times.
“The reality is that anyone of us can be thrust into the terrifying situation where our child is rushed into hospital and find ourselves scared and miles from home in a strange city, not knowing where we will sleep and when we will return home. Well, Mac House is that warm and welcoming safe haven that keeps families together and close to their critically ill child, and that is why we are determined to continue providing that home-from-home for families when they need it the most.
“We’re very proud of how our team has come together in very challenging circumstances – it demonstrates the dedication of everyone – staff, volunteers and trustees – to what is a very worthwhile cause. Ultimately, all of our actions and decisions are driven with our families at the very heart of our work.”
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