Charities

The Access and Sustainability Advisory Service (ASAS) is a free service for voluntary and community groups in London which sits within the Centre for Accessible Environments. The service provides free advice and training for charities looking to make their buildings and services more inclusive for disabled people. Founded in 1969, the Centre for Accessible Environments (CAE) is the UK’s leading authority on inclusive design and management. We aim to help secure environments that can be accessed, used and enjoyed by everyone – including disabled and older people – through our understanding of a wide range of user needs, such as intellectual, social, cultural, physical and sensory.

CAT is an education and visitor centre demonstrating practical solutions for sustainability. We cover all aspects of green living: environmental building, eco-sanitation, woodland management, renewable energy, energy efficiency and organic growing. Our site is a unique and valuable practical demonstration centre, a living laboratory with an enormous range of live examples of sustainable solutions. CAT has the largest range of installed renewable systems anywhere. These include: Photovoltaics Solar thermal A micro-grid Off-grid and grid-connected systems Biomass combined heat and power (CHP) Hydro Air source heat pumps A community heat main A range of small to medium wind turbines We also have two reed bed systems, our own off-mains water supply, and extensive organic gardens. In our day-to-day activities we: Run a visitor centre which is open 7 days a week, with 7 acres of interactive displays. Offer a free information service answering enquiries on all aspects of sustainable living. Run a graduate school with a range of postgraduate degrees in sustainability, environmental architecture and renewable energy. Run residential and one-day courses for the general public, as well as more specialised courses for builders, engineers, electricians and plumbers. Provide curriculum-based education to visiting schools, colleges and universities. Host residential education trips for schools and colleges in our unique eco-cabins. Carry out educational outreach work, including teacher training and school visits. Run a successful volunteer programme for those that want to gain hands-on experience. Have a growing network of supporter members who receive our quarterly magazine and an invite to our annual conference. Provide an eco-shop and vegetarian restaurant on site. For those further afield, we also have a mail order service. We also run or are involved with the following projects: ZeroCarbonBritain – a series of research reports addressing scenarios for reducing the UK’s emissions to zero in 20 years. Coed Gwern – 15 acres of sustainably managed woodland, which is home to a range of courses, as well as being monitored and managed for biodiversity. Dyfi Biosphere – the only UNESCO Biosphere in Wales.

The Centre for Policy on Ageing, established in 1947 by the Nuffield Foundation, has a long and distinguished record as an independent charity promoting the interests of older people through research, policy analysis and the dissemination of information. The Centre aims to raise awareness of issues around all aspects of ageing and to support good practice. Its overarching focus is to discover and advocate what older people themselves want and need. An important and unique aspect of the Centre’s work is to act as a hub to encourage the creative exchange of thinking and information on ageing issues. A key element of this work is making knowledge on ageing issues widely accessible to share learning and underpin policy initiatives to support older people. CPA collaborates with national and local government, practitioners, the academic community, voluntary groups and older people to sustain a network of learning around ageing.

Centrepoint is the UK's leading youth homelessness charity. We support over 16,000 young people every year and campaign to end youth homelessness by 2037. TOGETHER WE CAN END YOUTH HOMELESSNESS.

Chance for Childhood is an award-winning charity working in Africa to support the most vulnerable children, such as street children, disabled children, children affected by conflict and kids behind bars. Our vision is of a world where no child is forgotten! We work with and strengthen the capacity of African visionary community leaders to implement effective, locally-relevant projects. This enables us to focus on ‘hard to reach’ children, both in terms of their complex needs (e.g. street children with learning difficulties) and location (e.g. urban violent slums or remote rural areas). Together we make ideas and impact both sustainable and scalable to protect, educate and empower even more of the world’s most disadvantaged children.

The main purpose of CHANCE for Nepal is to work closely with established and trusted organisations, schools and hospitals in Nepal – to guarantee aid and support to those families in need, and to offer the opportunity of education and training opportunities.