Almond Tree wishes you a restful Christmas and New Year

Wow! What a year 2020 has been. It’s been tough on everyone, whatever sector they work in.

We’ve been privileged to have supported over 40 small and medium-sized charities through the many and varied challenges they have faced this year and proud to have played a part in helping them survive and lay the foundations to thrive in the new normal, whatever that may look like.

At the start of the first lockdown our support focused on a range of short term issues our clients wanted help with, in particular finding emergency funding, pivoting to new models of service delivery and adapting governance to the new context. This work was exhilarating and exhausting in equal measure and we like to think we helped some fabulous charities ride out the initial storm.

Since then, the focus of the support we are being asked for has shifted towards helping build the resilience of organisations through support with medium term planning, governance and fundraising. While the future remains uncertain and volatile, many of our clients are rising to these challenges in ways that are inspiring and humbling. We are thoroughly enjoying supporting them to do so.

What is clear to us, approaching the Christmas break, is just how tired many of the people we work with are. The last 9 months have been relentless and everyone needs a break.

Our wish for all our clients, and everyone working so hard to sustain vital charity services and support, is that you will take a break over Christmas and New Year, spend time with those you love and recharge your batteries. The new year will bring known and unknown challenges but now is the time to rest.

We wish you a restful and enjoyable Christmas and New Year and look forward to working with you in 2021.