BGF has announced a £12,500 donation to Cardiff-based charity Llamau as part of its £100,000 donation initiative to support local community-based charities across the UK & Ireland during the pandemic.

Llamau’s mission is to end homelessness for young people and women in Wales. The charity, who are daring to imagine a world without homelessness, provides safe accommodation for young people as well as refuges supporting women and children escaping domestic abuse. Llamau also run many early intervention services that prevent young people and women becoming homeless such as Family Mediation and Healthy Relationship programmes.

Founded more than 30 years ago, the charity has to date supported over 80,000 young people, women and their children who are either homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.

However, Llamau like charities across the country is currently facing huge challenges amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The charity anticipates fundraising losses in excess of £600,000 due to a range of fundraising events and activities being cancelled. Events that bring in a considerable amount of money for Llamau, have been cancelled alongside other mass participation and challenge events.

Several of Llamau’s corporate partners will also be unable to go ahead with their planned employee fundraising, which often relies on people getting together for a good cause.

As a regional business, active in different local economies, BGF recognised the need for increased support to local charities like Llamau and committed to make donations totalling £100,000 across the UK and Ireland, with a target to deliver all funding by mid-June.

The BGF team in Bristol and Cardiff have been working over the course of the last month to identify the Welsh charity which most needs its support and felt Llamau was deserving of the £12,500 donation which will strengthen its offering during these unprecedented times.

Llamau’s Director of Fundraising & Communications, Jenna Lewis, said:

“We’re extremely grateful to BGF for their incredibly generous donation. Now, more than ever, donations like this are making a substantial difference.

“Our number one priority has been to ensure our services continue to run, supporting some of the most vulnerable young people, women and children in society. The pandemic has created relentless challenges including an increase in demand for our services so funding like this will allow us to continue our vital support not just during the pandemic, but long after it too”

Ned Dorbin, BGF’s regional lead investor said: “Amid the highly challenging circumstances that we are all faced with, those who support society’s most vulnerable groups have a particularly immense battle ahead as they overwhelmingly rely on fundraising, public support, and donations which are currently hard to come by.

“We are pleased to be in a position to be able to offer this funding to Llamau with the support of our shareholders. The work the charity does is vitally important to supporting the vulnerable young people and women of Wales and it’s essential that it continues throughout the pandemic.”