Together for Short Lives

Together for Short Lives is a charity registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales (charity number 1144022).

Together for Short Lives is a registered charity in England and Wales that promotes support for children and young people with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions and their families, so that they can have as fulfilling lives as possible and receive the best care at the end of life. It makes grants under five programmes: the Butterfly Fund, Making Memories Together, Building a Legacy Together, Crisis Pantry and SGN Energy. According to the annual report, it made 1,089 grant awards totalling over £839k across the reporting period, and £774k of that was distributed across 39 children's hospices after a deduction for direct costs and a contribution to core costs. The Butterfly Fund provides a grant of £300 for families when their child dies.

Priority Areas

Together for Short Lives supports children and young people with life-limiting conditions and their families, aiming for fulfilling lives and the best care at the end of life. Its organisational grants include support for member charities providing children’s palliative care services across the UK. Through Building a Legacy Together, it funds children’s hospice building, refurbishment and equipment projects. The scheme’s stated assessment factors include enhancing hospice services, meeting unmet needs, improving service users’ experience, organisational backing, sustainability, innovation and reaching more families. The charity also has family-facing bereavement support through the Butterfly Fund, which helps families make space to grieve or remember their child. Its focus is on children’s palliative care provision through hospices and practical support for affected families.

Themes

• Children’s palliative care
• Children’s hospice capital projects
• Family bereavement support

Geographic Focus

The UK.

For the Building a Legacy Together scheme, applicants complete the application form and return it by email.

Deadlines: Applications open for three rounds during the partnership.

What to send:

• Building a Legacy Together
  • Signed statement of support on hospice headed paper from the chief executive.
  • Latest full signed accounts.
  • Project budget, including cost plan from a professional Quantity Surveyor or three quotations from contractors.
  • Copy of most recent safeguarding policy or policies.
  • Any other supporting information, such as a feasibility study or scoping exercise, that identifies the need for the work.

What the charity says:

• The proposal should demonstrate an enhancement of hospice services.
• The proposal should address an unmet need in current hospice service provision.
• The proposal should improve the experience of people using the services.
• The application should show high-level organisational backing and alignment with the applicant’s strategy.
• The project should be sustainable after the funding ends.
• The committee prioritises projects that innovate hospice care and align with the aim of reaching more families in need.
• The committee may consider geographical spread and project type when allocating funds.
• The committee prioritises projects that can start soon after the funding decision.
• The proposal should demonstrate value for money and feasibility.
• Grant holders must evaluate their project at the end of the funding, and some projects require a progress update.