Every year, we provide funding to local voluntary organisations in Watford and Three Rivers to allow them to work with bid writers for work they lack either the skills to write larger funding bids themselves or the ability to employ a bid writer directly for their organisation.

Over the last 18 months, W3RT CVS has worked in partnership with Watford and Three Rivers Refugee Partnership (WTRRP), providing them with funding totally £1,440 to allow them to submit a funding application to the National Lottery Reaching Communities Fund. This funding would allow WTRRP to employ additional members of staff within the organisation to keep up with the increased demand for their services.

For those who are unaware, WTRRP offer practical and emotional support to asylum seekers and refugees in Watford and Three Rivers. As many of their clients have no recourse to public funds, their service is vital in ensuring that their clients receive support until they can access statutory services.

Just before Christmas 2023, we were delighted to hear back from WTRRP who told us that they were successful in the application they submitted using the money awarded to them and received 100% of the funding they applied for, a whopping £221,725.

Peter Howard, Volunteer Grants Officer at WTRRP said the news of the funding from the National Lottery was ‘brilliant, and that we would not have been able to apply for the funding without the support of the bid writer introduced to us by W3RT CVS as well the £1,440 awarded to the organisation’. He added ‘this funding will allow the charity to increase its organisational capacity which will increase the number of clients we are able to support’.

We look forward to working with WTRRP over the coming months, helping them continue to support some of the most vulnerable members of our communities across Watford and Three Rivers. You can find out more about them by visiting their website here.

W3RT CVS provides a range of free support to voluntary and community organisations in the Watford and Three Rivers area thanks to funding from Watford Borough Council and Three Rivers District Council. You can find out more about our services by clicking here and if you or your organisation would like support, get in touch by emailing [email protected].