A Centrepoint young person gets ‘Geared for Giving’

Stephanie meets Anne Snelgrove MP to raise awareness of payroll giving

Stephanie, who has been receiving support from Centrepoint for two years, addressed the ‘Geared for Giving’ 1st Anniversary celebration held at Portcullis House, home to hundreds of MPs offices located opposite the Houses of Parliament. The event hosted by Anne Snelgrove MP raised awareness of Payroll Giving as an easy and tax-free way of donating money to charitable organisations.

Stephanie confidently and candidly spoke of how she became homeless and of the help and support she has been given by Centrepoint, including completing the Youth Educators Programme – a service user involvement initiative. She highlighted the valuable work carried out by charities such as Centrepoint that benefit from Payroll Giving. She said:

Stephanie addresses a 100-strong audience at Portcullis House

“Centrepoint has helped me a lot with training and personal issues, and I’ve always felt really supported, so I’d like to say thank you for that. I think it’s really important that the public have easy ways to give money, as what is given really makes a difference to people.”

Richard Utting, Head of Organisational Giving at Centrepoint attended the event and said:

“Payroll Giving is a way for employees to make regular payments to charity directly from their pay before tax is deducted making it an easy and valuable way to donate. Centrepoint’s Payroll Giving has increased 20% in the last year and we are currently receiving just over £70,000 a year. This is an increasingly important funding stream for the future."