At the end of 2023 Rothesay set aside £7.7m to fund future charitable projects.
The Foundation’s mission is to help secure and improve the quality of life for older people in need in the UK. It focuses on tackling material deprivation in the pension-age population in the UK across four key areas:
- Housing – ensuring older people have a warm, comfortable home with working facilities.
- Social – helping older people to be able to have social interactions, such as travelling to see friends or family.
- Finance – supporting older people to pay their bills or unexpected costs, such as replacing essentials.
- Basic – providing essential services such as three healthy meals a day, access to a telephone or suitable clothing.
The Foundation partners with charities and other organisations to make this possible. It takes an ‘active funding’ approach to its partnerships, providing financial donations along with:
- Expertise – our understanding of scaling organisations and programme delivery.
- Data & technology – to help our partners have the most up-to-date technology so that they can effectively manage their data and reach more people in need, more efficiently and with a wider range of services.
- Awareness & research – so that the issue of pension-age poverty in the UK is better understood.
- Measurement – to ensure the Foundation’s funding is having the highest amount of positive impact possible.
Age UK Benefits Check Service
As part of its commitment to helping older people in need, in 2023 the Rothesay Foundation is funding a free and confidential benefits check service for Summer Cheer participants, provided by our charity partner Age UK.
This vital service will help Summer Cheer participants find out and receive the additional state benefits they could be entitled to. On average, an Age UK benefits check identifies an extra £2,000 that each person could be entitled to every year.
If you received a £30 Iceland voucher last year as part of the Summer Cheer campaign and said you were happy to hear more about the Rothesay Foundation’s work to support pensioners living in need, we will be writing to you about this.
Click here for the privacy notice for those participating
Please see below for information on our Winter and Summer Cheer campaigns.
If you are an older person who is worried about money and think you might be entitled to some additional help, even if you are receiving benefits, we encourage you to contact Age UK by:
- Calling its national advice line, free of charge on 0800 169 65 65 (8am-7pm)
- Visiting www.ageuk.org.uk/money
- Contacting their local Age UK for free information and advice.
Lambeth Winter Cheer
There are approximately 8,000 older people in the Lambeth area who solely rely on the State Pension, making it tough for them to celebrate with loved ones over the festive period. In 2021, Rothesay Foundation partnered up with Iceland Foods and Age UK Lambeth to help this community enjoy Christmas in 2021.
We launched the Lambeth Winter Cheer campaign. This initiative gave any Lambeth residents who are living independently, or with a carer, and who rely solely on a State Pension a £30 Iceland gift voucher to spend in their local Iceland store during December.
Summer Cheer
Following the success of the Lambeth Winter Cheer campaign, the Rothesay Foundation expanded its partnership with Iceland Foods to support pensioners in need across the UK as their budgets continue to be squeezed by the cost-of-living crisis.
The ‘Summer Cheer’ campaign 2022 rolled out across 269 stores, giving local pension-age residents who are living independently, or with a carer, who rely solely on a state pension and benefits a £30 voucher for food and other essentials.
Please see some quotes from participants below.
For more information on the Rothesay Foundation, and our charity partners, read the Trustee's latest report.
Trustees' Report 2022
Other charitable giving
Rothesay supports a number of charities and each year appoints a Charity of the Year voted for by employees. We also provide corporate matching for employees' charitable donations of up to £1,000 per employee a year in total.
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Our Charity of the Year
My Name’5 Doddie Foundation was set up to help Motor Neuron Disease sufferers and to fund research into this, as yet, incurable disease by Doddie Weir OBE. He earned 61 caps for Scotland during a successful rugby career and was diagnosed as suffering from Motor Neuron Disease in 2017.
Rothesay’s Charity of the Year programme works to champion and help raise funds for a charity that is nominated and voted for by employees. My Name’5 Doddie Foundation is our 2023 Charity of the Year.
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Alzheimer's Society
Dementia is the UK’s biggest killer. Someone develops it every three minutes and there’s currently no cure. Alzheimer’s Society is the UK’s leading dementia charity and is facing dementia head on - working tirelessly to create meaningful change, funding research to find a cure and delivering a wide range of support services to help people living with dementia today, so that no one has to face dementia alone.
Rothesay sponsored Alzheimer's Society Annual Conference 2022 which focused on the diagnosis of dementia, what is being done and what still needs to be done for people affected by dementia, including the latest innovations. We also sponsored the republication of their Carer’s Guide, which is a practical guide to helping carers support their loved ones with dementia and to look after themselves as their main carer.
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