COGS Prepares 4 Life CIO

Sales, Services & Donations

As a registered charity, COGS Prepares 4 Life CIO relies on a combination of funding, income generation, and the generosity of our community to continue providing high-quality opportunities and support for the people we serve.

Our primary source of income comes from our day services, where service users access meaningful activities, personalised support, and opportunities to develop valuable life and work skills.

Additional income is generated through our Prepares 4 Life Market Store, where we sell organically grown fruit and vegetables, plants from our nursery, handcrafted wooden products, and unique arts and crafts created by the people we support. Every purchase directly contributes to the ongoing work of the charity, with all proceeds reinvested into our services, resources, and future opportunities for our service users.

We also offer a reliable and competitively priced gardening service to local residents, providing practical work experience for our service users while delivering a valued service to the community.

Donations play a vital role in helping us continue and expand our work. Whether large or small, every contribution makes a meaningful difference. As a Gift Aid registered charity with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), eligible donations can be increased at no extra cost to the donor, allowing us to maximise the impact of every gift and invest even more into supporting the people who rely on our services.

By supporting COGS Prepares 4 Life—whether by purchasing our products, using our services, or making a donation—you are helping us create opportunities, build confidence, promote independence, and improve the lives of the people we support.

External Funders

The continued success of COGS Prepares 4 Life CIO is made possible through the invaluable support of our external funders. Their investment enables us to provide meaningful opportunities, high-quality services, and life-changing experiences for the people we support.

We are proud to acknowledge and celebrate the organisations that choose to invest in our charity and share our vision of empowering individuals to develop skills, build confidence, and achieve greater independence. Their funding allows us to deliver a wide range of projects and activities that have a lasting, positive impact—not only on our service users but also on the wider local community.

We are sincerely grateful to all our funding partners for recognising the importance of our work and for helping us continue to make a meaningful difference. Their generosity ensures that COGS Prepares 4 Life can grow, innovate, and provide opportunities that enrich lives today and for years to come.

OUR FUNDERS

Grant Award from the npower Business Solutions Foundation

We were absolutely delighted to be notified on 21st June 2024 that the npower Business Solutions Foundation had awarded us a grant of £6,061.00.

This generous funding will provide vital support to ensure that our activities can continue to run without interruption, helping us maintain the quality and consistency of the opportunities we provide for our community. The grant will be allocated across three key areas of our work: gardening activities, woodwork sessions, and arts & crafts programmes. This support will enable participants to continue developing new skills, building confidence, and enjoying meaningful, creative activities in a welcoming environment. We are extremely grateful to the npower Business Solutions Foundation for their valued contribution and for helping us continue to make a positive difference.

Continued Support from We Love Lichfield

We are incredibly grateful for the continued support we receive from We Love Lichfield, a local funder delivered through the Community Foundation for Staffordshire.

Year after year, their generous support helps us sustain our vital work and ensures we can continue providing our services to the community. In June 2024, they awarded us £900 towards our rent costs for three months, providing essential support that helps us maintain our facilities and keep our activities running. This funding makes a real difference, helping us to remain a welcoming and accessible space for everyone who benefits from the opportunities we provide.

A heartfelt thank you to We Love Lichfield and the Community Foundation for Staffordshire for their ongoing commitment and for continuing to support our work.

Support from the William A Cadbury Charitable Trust

We would like to express our sincere thanks to the William A Cadbury Charitable Trust for their generous grant of £750.00.

This valuable contribution will help support our essential running costs, enabling us to continue delivering our activities and services to the community. Funding such as this plays a vital role in helping us maintain our work and provide meaningful opportunities for those who benefit from our support.

We are extremely grateful for the Trust’s generosity and commitment to supporting organisations like ours.

Support from The Axis Foundation for our Grow-Cook-Eat Project

We are delighted to have received a generous £1,000 donation from The Axis Foundation towards our Grow-Cook-Eat project.

This valuable funding will support the purchase of additional ingredients to complement the fruit and vegetables grown by our participants. The project provides a fantastic opportunity for individuals to develop practical gardening, cooking, and independent living skills, while learning how to prepare healthy meals that they can recreate and enjoy at home. We are incredibly grateful to The Axis Foundation for their generous support, which will help us continue delivering this valuable and engaging project while encouraging confidence, creativity, and wellbeing through growing, cooking, and sharing food.

Support from The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust

We were delighted to be notified that The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust had awarded us a generous grant of £760.00 to support the ongoing development of our gardening activities.

This funding will enable us to purchase a significant amount of compost and manure to replenish and improve the planters and vegetable beds across our site. This essential support will help create healthier growing environments, giving our plants the nutrients they need to thrive and ensuring we can continue producing fresh, homegrown produce.

As well as benefiting our gardens, the project provides valuable opportunities for our participants to stay active, develop practical skills, and enjoy the physical and wellbeing benefits of gardening.

We are extremely grateful to The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust for their generous support and for helping us continue to grow our gardening activities and the positive impact they have on those involved.

Support from The Hedley Foundation for our Sustainability Project

As part of our commitment to developing a more sustainable and low-impact service, we were delighted to receive a generous grant of £2,000.00 from The Hedley Foundation.

This valuable funding has enabled us to purchase a solar power system and a recirculation fan for our greenhouse, helping us to reduce our environmental impact while improving the efficiency and sustainability of our growing activities.

The new equipment will support our ongoing gardening projects by creating a more environmentally friendly growing space, allowing us to continue providing meaningful opportunities for participants to develop skills, build confidence, and engage with nature.

We are incredibly grateful to The Hedley Foundation for their generous support and for helping us take important steps towards a greener, more sustainable future.