Our Charities
Cycle to Cannes is closely allied with a number of important charities and this year we want to make grants of at least £250,000.
From 2012 we are assisting one core charity and four subsidiary charities. Two-thirds of the money raised in 2012 will go towards the work of Coram, with Article 25, Tom's Trust, The MSA Trust and the Emthonjeni Trust receiving smaller grants. At the discretion of the C2C trustees occasional one-off grants are also made to additional charities.
Coram acts every day to support the UK’s most vulnerable children, young people and families. Founded in 1739 by Captain Thomas Coram – a philanthropist who wanted to provide care for children abandoned on London’s streets – Coram is one of the UK’s oldest children’s charities. Their pioneering work has attracted historically significant patrons, including the artist William Hogarth and the composer George Frideric Handel. Coram provides intensive support for more than 15,000 children, young people and their families, and reaches a further 800,000 school children through health and social education programmes. Coram’s pioneering approach and range of services – including adoption, creative therapies and supported housing for those leaving care – help children and young people find stability, love and self-worth.
Our other causes
Currently, some 620 million children around the world do not have decent or safe housing. Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is the only article referring to the built environment. It states that adequate housing and shelter are a fundamental human right. The charity Article 25 works to build better housing wherever there is disaster, poverty or need. Over the last three years, funding from C2C has helped disaster relief in Pakistan; a children’s home in Ghana; and a school for street children in Goa. Funds received in 2010 helped Article 25 to assist schools in Ethiopia and Sierra Leone; and create a master plan and construction design for the Gola Forest National Park.
The Multiple System Atrophy Trust provides information and support to those living with MSA, their families, carers and health professionals. This support is provided by regional support groups and seminars for health care professionals and through the Trust's phone and email helpline run by specialist nurses. The Trust also funds research into the causes and treatment of MSA. Funds raised in 2012 will go towards a second nurse to assist with increased demand on the helpline. The Trust was set up in 1997 by Sarah Matheson, who held various posts at the Architectural Association and died from MSA in 1999. The brother of Cycle to Cannes’ founder Peter Murray also died from MSA.
Tom ap Rhys Pryce was killed as he walked home on 12 January 2006. Tom’s family, supported by Linklaters, founded a charitable trust to assist disadvantaged children achieve their potential by helping them gain access to educational facilities and opportunities. Funds donated by Cycle to Cannes to the Tom ap Rhys Pryce Memorial Trust have helped to fund, among other projects, a new teacher at Kids Company to provide support to 14,000 vulnerable children and young people in London.
The Emthonjeni Trust works in Eastern Cape Province in South Africa giving support to people living with HIV and AIDS, particularly focusing on a community with high levels of unemployment and poverty. The Trust was founded in Cheltenham in 2001 and channels nearly all its funds to its work in South Africa, with no salaries paid to UK volunteer staff.