Aurora New Dawn is a Hampshire-based charity supporting victims and survivors of domestic abuse, sexual violence and stalking.
In this interview, HIWCF speaks with CEO Shonagh Dillon about the impact of HIWCF funding on their services – from launching a 24/7 helpline during the Covid pandemic to piloting creative, community-led support programmes. Shonagh shares how small, flexible grants have enabled Aurora New Dawn to innovate, respond quickly to need, and ultimately support thousands of people across the region.
Can you tell us a bit about your organisation and the work you do in the community?
Yes, Aurora New Dawn is a charity supporting victims and survivors of domestic abuse, sexual violence and stalking. We work in the community and we provide services, advocacy and support group work and various avenues for victims and survivors to get support at a point in their lives where they need it the most.
What challenges were you seeing in your community that this project or funding helps you address?
Often when we apply for funding from HIWCF we’re looking to try innovative ways of filling a gap in service provision for victims and survivors and looking at ways in which the services can be accessible to them – or just respond to challenges in a slightly different way.
How did you hear about HIWCF initially and decide to apply for funding?
I think it was an email that landed in my inbox. As a CEO, you sign up to lots of different funding portals. I looked through the various grant opportunities that were there and there was one that fit our organisation. And that’s just been a rolling kind of relationship actually – I always look out for whenever funding is announced through HIWCF, I always go and have a look because there are lots of different ways in which they support the community.
What was your experience like applying for a grant with HIWCF?
Really easy. It’s so easy to apply for grants at HIWCF, it’s beautiful, it’s a gift! They make it simple and straightforward, and it doesn’t take up a lot of your time. Small charities don’t have massive teams working on funding bids, or if they do have any support around that, it’s usually reserved for big tenders and contracts. But HIWCF just make it a really simple form. Obviously, all the governance around your finances needs to be evidenced, but apart from that, it’s straightforward.
“It's so easy to apply for grants at HIWCF, it's beautiful, it's a gift!”
How did you use the funding from HIWCF?
The funding that we’ve used for HIWCF is numerous and varied. During the Covid pandemic, HIWCF supported our 24/7 helpline and we launched that initially without the backup of funding, we just took the leap because we were really concerned about the risk to victims of domestic abuse in Hampshire. The support that HIWCF gave us was instrumental and so valuable. What we were able to do with that funding is not just to sustain the service, but also be able to prove to other funders – who could potentially give us larger grants – that we were getting support from our local community. That was so important at a crucial stage in terms of funding. It was a really valuable grant that we received at a time that we, and the community we serve, was in desperate need for it.
“The support that HIWCF gave us was instrumental and so valuable… we were in desperate need for it.”
What difference has the funding made to your organisation and to the people you support?
I think it’s just a simple yet highly valuable way of supporting a small charity as well as being very unique to the community that that charity is in. We’ve always had good feedback, so we know we’ve made a difference with the grants that we’ve received from HIWCF. In terms of tangible support, with the helpline during Covid, over the four years that was open we supported over 5,800 victims. That was in Hampshire. So, it just goes to show that from small grants and small organisations, small acorns grow big trees.
It’s a real gift to be able to have a relationship and an opportunity with a grant and funder like HIWCF because over the years, we’ve got to know them and they’ve got to know us and that enables us to start thinking about how to use funding and waiting for grant opportunities to come out. Of course, we don’t get all the grants that we apply for, but the simple process of being able to apply means that we’re not investing loads of time into applications. I think it’s a win-win for charities like ours, but also for HIWCF because they get to know the charities that are in the area, get to understand who they are, what they do and what the gaps might be – so that they can understand the need for their communities.
Is there a particular story or example of someone who’s benefited from your work that stands out to you?
We got funding to do some group work and we match funded it with Hampshire Football Association. We ended up doing a piece of work that was for victims and survivors to do a pattern changing course, looking at the dynamics of domestic abuse, but combined it with football. It was a lovely piece of work, and we would talk and have the emotional conversations and do the work that we needed to do in the first 45 minutes to an hour and then we would all get up and play football. It was really good fun and really alleviated some of the stress and tension. We learned a lot from that. And one of the things that we recognised was that a lot of the women that were accessing that group were from the armed forces – it’s an area that we continue to be interested in and we wouldn’t have learned that without the funding from HIWCF.
How do you think your community or service would be affected if funding like this wasn’t available?
It would be devastating if funding wasn’t available through these kinds of grants. They’re small but they have a massive impact. The grants can change so much, not just in terms of the tangible difference that the grant makes to those beneficiaries in that moment, but also the work that you can do with that grant. It can change your business plan, because something – for example, a service – wouldn’t have happened without a small grant from HIWCF.
They allow us to try things, and you don’t often get time for that creative space, so we’re never going to not need those small grants to support our community. Not having these small grants would be a devastating blow, particularly to small organisations. We’re coming up to 15 years old and certainly in the early days, grants can be instrumental in terms of the way that you can operate, sustain services or survive and try new things. I think it would be a devastating impact for small local charities, which are struggling already.
“Not having these small grants would be a devastating blow, particularly to small organisations.”
What would you say to another small charity or community group thinking about applying to HIWCF but hasn’t yet?
What are you waiting for? It’s easy. It’s accessible. And the relationship that you can have with HIWCF is a really good one, and it just opens you up to opportunities and creativity in a way that other grant providers don’t always allow you to do. It’s a very different grant making organisation. I would encourage any small charity to just go for it. It’s an absolute gift you should definitely tap into it.
What are your hopes for the future of your projects or organisation?
Well, my hope is always for charities to sustain and grow. We’ve been going through tough times for too long – we set up Aurora in the middle of austerity so we’ve always been quite used to austerity. We’ve always been quite used to the challenges, but it does feel like it’s increasingly becoming harder.
I will remain ever hopeful and positive about the outlook. So, if we continue to stay positive and take the opportunities, for example, grants from HIWCF, I think it lifts you out of that space of feeling like everything’s broken and its doom and gloom.
There is a lot to be positive about. In Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, there’s some amazing charities, there’s some amazing work going on and there’s a lot of unsung heroes – so I would just hope that we are able to keep going, keep a positive mindset and grow our services until there is no need for our services ever again. That’s the goal.
It would be wonderful if there is no need for a charity supporting victims of domestic abuse, sexual violence and stalking, but that won’t happen in my lifetime.
Thank you to those that support HIWCF, thank you to the trustees and staff. It really is a very easy and beneficial relationship. And I don’t know that those that support HIWCF really appreciate the difference that their contribution makes, and it really does make a huge difference. So just a huge thank you from us at Aurora New Dawn.