West Cornwall Women’s Aid

The Foundation is very aware that some causes are particularly hard to raise money for, especially from individuals and community fundraising.

One such area is domestic violence and exploitation. These issues have risen significantly as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and ongoing economic uncertainty. 

West Cornwall Women’s Aid (WCWA) is based in Penzance. Their services reach women and children across west Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. The charity offers a range of support including refuge accommodation, resettlement, counselling, early intervention and prevention. They help women and their children recover from the impact of domestic abuse, sexual violence and exploitation. WCWA helps them to be safer and to improve their wellbeing and mental health. Ultimately, they are able to increase their social connections and be free of abuse and violence. 

WCWA clearly set out the need it is addressing in its application and the impact that its work has. They outlined the connection between domestic abuse and violence and deprivation. Despite Cornwall’s ‘holiday’ image, the charity is working across some of the most deprived areas of England. WCWA included compelling anonymised case studies in its application. They told us about the experience of their leadership and management teams. They also told us about the many local partnerships they lead or participate in. This ensures that there is no duplication of services. WCWA made their anticipated income and expenditure clear so that we could see what their funding shortfall was likely to be. We were delighted to make a grant towards the charity’s operating costs in acknowledgement of the important work it does.