I joined the CareTech Foundation in June 2022 because I wanted to do my part to give back and be a part of the Foundation’s work. As the Grants and Finance Officer, my job is to handle what we refer to as our smaller grants – the Community Grant Fund, the Match Fund Grant Fund, and the Staff Hardship Fund. I’m involved in every step of the process, from making sure our online form works correctly, to reading your applications, talking to you about your application, taking your application to trustees to consider, and communicating trustees’ decisions to you.

I also handle the Foundation’s finances and accounting too! Part of what I love about this role is that I get to dip my fingers into almost every aspect of what we do and work with every single member of the team. From working with our communications manager to gather content for the newsletter, to making sure grant payments go out on time, to helping with the administration of the whole Foundation, I get to be a part of it all.

During my time at the Foundation, I’ve also worked very closely with the Championing Social Care team. This is a cross-sector initiative hosted by the Foundation that runs annual programme to share the great stories of the care sector and to shine a light on the fantastic work in social care. One of my favourite experiences in Championing Social Care was bringing the care sector together to celebrate social care as well as raise record-breaking funds at the Care Sector Fundraising Ball. Seeing the Care Sector’s Got Talent All-Stars get a standing ovation and even bring a few audience members to tears with their absolutely brilliant performance really drove home what makes this sector so special and why as many people as possible should get involved with Championing Social Care.

I’ve had some incredible experiences working with the Foundation in the last year or so. One of the key moments that really helped me understand the impact of our work was the Summer Cost of Living Crisis Grant. I was barely a month into the role when we opened a different application system to the Staff Hardship Grants Fund to help those oaffected by the Cost of Living Crisis. Being able to help so many care workers in such a short period of time really tied in how important our work is for me. (If you’re affected by the Cost of Living Crisis now, take a look at our Staff Hardship Fund – we may be able to help you!).