Chapter 3

Supporting individuals and their families

The MCF’s evaluation model builds on four core areas:

Reach

Understanding who our beneficiaries are, their characteristics and whether our services are reaching the right groups.

Quality

Ensuring we are offering
high quality services and identifying opportunities for service improvement.

Resources

Allocating resources in proportion to the service being delivered. 

Impact

Prioritising the impact
areas, ensuring they remain at the forefront of every support initiative

Who we have supported 

We continue to support disadvantaged individuals, families and communities in England, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man and also overseas Districts.

Support for daily living 

We provided 2,259 grants at a cost of £7.4M, to 1,769 individuals and families to help them meet everyday living costs. 

Support for children and young people in education

We provided 487 grants at a cost of £1.3M to 338 children and young people to ensure they had access to the same educational opportunities as their peers.

Support for health, care and wellbeing

We provided 1,551 grants to 1,129 people at a cost of £4M to help them live healthier and more independent lives. This total includes 389 people who accessed our
free and confidential counselling service at a cost of £311K.

Here to help the people who mean the most to you

Our Impact

We provide a wide range of support to advance three key areas of impact that we consider to be important in people’s lives; 

Through our annual beneficiary survey we asked those we support to tell us the ways in which they believed our support has helped them.

From 708 responses:

58 per cent

told us that our support had helped with their Wellbeing

24 per cent

told us that our support had improved their Independence

5 per cent

told us that they were now able to access an Opportunity

13 per cent

told us that our support has helped them in other ways

How our support is changing lives 

The help that I receive from the MCF has helped soften the blow of the rising costs of everything. I don’t know how to explain fully the difference this has had on my life.”

Greater wellbeing

Across all age groups, the predominant impact reported was an enhanced sense of wellbeing. This sentiment was frequently linked to achieving a sense of financial control; establishing stronger connections with friends and family; and being more resilient when dealing with personal challenges. 

Creating opportunities

Providing people with access to new opportunities is linked to helping them gaining control over their finances, being able to cope with more difficult situations, and recovering from a change in their circumstances.

My TalentAid grant has given me so many opportunities and will allow me to follow my career of choice.”

Supporting independence 

Our beneficiaries told us that our grants have given them greater independence and helped people to spend more time doing activities they enjoy. Providing greater independence for someone living with a disability was shown as particularly valuable. The survey also shows that our support helped people become more independent as they got older. 

The mobility scooter provided lets me go out, be independent and is the most important thing to me.”

Mental health support

Support for children and young people

Mental health support for adults has been a core element of our support since the MCF was formed. However, according to the NHS, one in six children and young people in the UK have a mental health concern. The need for early intervention is crucial, and counselling can help children and young people to address their problems early on, before they become more serious. 

In 2022/23, the MCF launched a mental health service to support children aged five to 15. We are already beginning to see a positive impact on those who have received support.

The MCF awarded 

£311,859 

in mental health support grants, of which £21,068 was spent supporting 28 children and young people.

The impact of our mental health support

We assess the beneficiary’s mental health before and after accessing the service by asking them to score areas such as ‘feeling bad about self’ or ‘feeling down, depressed, or hopeless’.

Quality of the service

We were pleased to see that the quality of the service provided by our delivery partners, coupled with the feedback from service users, shows a high level of customer satisfaction.

96.2%

Satisfaction with mental health support.

. 

The response time from the original request was extremely quick. The service from the practitioner was excellent and they understood my concerns, both obvious and concealed. There was no pressure to conclude each session and each session was extremely effective for me.”


Mental Health service user

Case Study: Wilf

Wilf is retired and sought support through the MCF mental health service. Wilf’s wife had recently passed away and he contacted the MCF for support. His loss had impacted his sleep and social life and he reported he had been avoiding social encounters.

After completing his course of therapy, Wilf told us that the counselling has reassured him that it is perfectly normal to still be grieving and that he can move forward with his grief at his own pace.

Supporting older people

The RMBI Care Company

One of the MCF’s priorities is the care of older people, primarily through a network of 17 care homes operated by the RMBI Care Co. across England and Wales.

The homes provide a safe and welcoming environment for over 1,000 older people, and offer residential care, nursing care and dementia support. All homes are rated ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’ by the CQC in England or ‘Compliant’ by the CIW in Wales.

Each year the RMBI Care Co. produces its own Impact Report which can be found at www.rmbi.org.uk 

In 2022/23, the MCF contributed 

£6.7M 

towards the cost of care for eligible residents requiring support for their care costs. 

What our beneficiaries told us

Every year, we ask the people we support to complete a survey about the process for applying and receiving charitable support. This year, over 700 people completed our survey to help us understand what our beneficiaries think of the processes we follow to support them.

98%

of beneficiaries said that our enquiries team’s knowledge and professionalism when responding to their enquiry either met or exceeded their expectations.

86%

told us that they were kept informed regarding how long they would wait to find out if their application was successful.

93%

said that, in addition to the support they have received, they feel a connection to the MCF and understand the wider work that the charity does. 

97%

told us that our grants team’s knowledge and professionalism either met or exceeded
their expectations.

99%

felt that their experience of engaging with a Visiting Volunteer or Advice and Support Team member was a positive one. 

91%

told us that the MCF was demonstrating all of our organisational values of Striving for Excellence, Responding to Need and Making a Difference.

We pride ourselves on our excellent service
Supporting charities and communities

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chapter 4

Supporting charities and communities