DOWNLOAD our new 5-year strategy
WATCH a short film by Aaron Barbour, our Chief Executive and Abby Cable, our Vice Chair of Trustees
What’s in a strategy?
Since completing our last 5-year strategy KLS is now larger, busier and operating within a community attempting to recover from the impact of the Covid pandemic, grappling with the cost of living crisis and do its part in responding to climate change.
We have added to our community programmes and now regularly support 800 members. We supported nearly 30 charities to start-up and grow. We became an active coordinator of the charity & voluntary sector in Battersea and Wandsworth. We supported 10 campaigns, with notable successes including Wandsworth Council becoming a London Living Wage employer and creating a Borough of Sanctuary for refugees and asylum seekers.
We’re able to spend almost twice as much on making a difference, in part thanks to the generous support of the individual donors and Charitable Trusts who have supported us since 2017. And are ably supported by a fantastic team of staff and volunteers who work closely with our amazing members and partners.
Today’s the day
We’ve known that we needed new strategy for a while. We spent much of last year listening and talking with our members, volunteers, staff, supporters, donors and partners to develop a new one. We are not ripping anything up, simply building on the amazing stuff KLS has always done.
We’re delighted to be formally launching our next 5-year strategy today.
The core of KLS remains constant
Everything we do will stay true to our vision, values and aims of creating an inclusive society where the people of Battersea and the wider Wandsworth community achieve their potential together. We continue to be led by our values of collaboration, respect, kindness and lasting sustainability in all that we do. These enable us to achieve our aim of fostering and empowering local communities in Battersea to tackle poverty and reduce isolation.
Growing our community Programmes
Our community programmes will continue to grow and evolve to meet the changing needs of our members and the local community. Within our teams we will:
We will continue to work with passion, commitment, ambition, empathy, love, care and kindness.
Increasing our partnerships
We cannot and should not try to do everything ourselves. We know from experience that better outcomes are achieved by working in partnership. To this end we will deepen the relationships we have with our 60+ partners and inevitably develop new ones too, as issues and opportunities emerge. We will continue to work with partners who:
Strengthening our foundations
We are a larger community organisation in Battersea supporting more members and activities than ever. Having nearly doubled in size over the past five years, we have asked more of our people with minimal change to processes. We need to invest in support functions, our systems and processes and our buildings, making them robust and sustainable enough to underpin both our own activities and those of our partners.
Along the way
We will refurbish our main building on Battersea High Street; work out of more community venues near us; and do a lot more to reduce our carbon footprint. And, we’re going to celebrate our 100th birthday in 2024.
We need your help
To achieve this we are going to need more of your help and support. We totally appreciate everyone who supports us already with their time, money, networks, kindness and love. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
We hope you will join us over the coming five years to make this new strategy a success. It is only by working together that we will make this happen. As this proverb inspires us: ‘If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.’
Get involved
Please get in touch with Aaron, our Chief Executive, on 020 7223 2845 and [email protected] to discuss this further and explore how you could get involved.
DOWNLOAD our new 5-year strategy
WATCH a short film with Aaron Barbour, our Chief Executive and Abby Cable, our Vice Chair of Trustees