GDA

How we helped

About the organisation
GDA is a local charity providing vital practical and emotional support to adults, children and young people living in Gloucestershire and its surrounding areas who are deaf or hard of hearing. Through its wide range of services, GDA’s purpose is to help each person live more confidently at home, work, and out and about. 

The challenge
Nothing could have prepared GDA – or indeed any charity – for the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. GDA’s dedicated staff found themselves working ever longer hours to cope with the dramatic upturn in need among its service users of Deaf sign language users and older people with acquired hearing loss. Alongside that, GDA was faced with a sudden and steep downturn in key funding streams: income from hiring out rooms at GDA’s community centre disappeared overnight; community fundraising events had to be cancelled; the charity had to invest to switch to full-time video relay interpreting when face-to-face interpreting became impossible due to social distancing.

The role of Penleaf
GDA used Penleaf for a fixed three-month period to find and secure COVID-19 emergency funding for the charity. The total grant money achieved provided a very worthwhile return on investment. More than that,  by placing the task of grant applications out of house, GDA enabled its senior manager to focus her energy on pivoting the organisation’s services and resources to the new operating environment.