Charities 2025 - The Clare Foundation

Autism Early Support

Established in 2001, Autism Early Support is a children’s charity based in Buckinghamshire. We provide essential early help and specialist education for autistic children and children with communication, interaction, and sensory differences. We believe that every child deserves timely, appropriate, and high-quality education. With the right support and foundation, children can achieve better outcomes.

Much of our work involves the people surrounding the child. We empower and equip parents with the knowledge and confidence they need to better understand, support, and advocate for their children’s needs. Through our training and consultancy services in schools, we help teachers understand neurodivergence and learn strategies to support individual children and create more inclusive classrooms. Our specialist services for children and families include our pre-school Circle Centre Nursery, one-on-one therapies for children in their homes and schools, and our Parent’s Portal, a 24/7 digital resource platform that we launched in 2023.

Our work is underpinned by enabling children to feel safe and understood. When they are more able to communicate their needs and preferences, they are happier. With these foundations, they can enjoy learning and engaging with the world around them.

Bucks Cricket

Bucks Cricket’s vision is for cricket to be at the heart of every community in Buckinghamshire. Our mission is to make cricket a game for everyone by breaking down barriers to participation and providing safe, welcoming, and inclusive environments to play.

Our plan is to introduce and deliver inclusive community programmes in Aylesbury to connect communities and provide positive, meaningful opportunities through cricket from childhood to old age.

Hector’s House

Founded by Hector Stringer’s family in his memory after he tragically took his own life at just 18, our mission is to prevent suicide in our communities by providing education, raising awareness, and offering vital support. Hector’s House is a small but deeply committed charity dedicated to suicide prevention and mental health support across Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, and Bedfordshire.

Our vision is simple yet powerful: to ensure that everyone has access to the mental health support they need, so that no one ever reaches the point of suicide. Through education, awareness, and compassionate support, our mission is to save lives and offer hope.

Every year, we reach thousands of people through one-to-one support, group sessions, community, and school talks, providing suicide alertness training and sharing advice and resources on our website and social media channels. Our focus is on promoting mental well-being and building resilience by sharing practical tools to help manage feelings like despair, depression, and anxiety. We talk about the benefits of things like good nutrition, staying active, finding enjoyable hobbies, and—most importantly—how to recognise the early signs of low mood and where to go for help.

From our firsthand experience, we know that timely intervention and ongoing support can be life-changing. That’s why we also provide fast-track access to professional therapists and cover session costs for those facing financial barriers.

Hope After Harm

Hope After Harm works tirelessly to create a society where everyone can thrive. Those we serve are often grappling with profound emotional and psychological trauma. Many are distressed and struggling to find a way forward in the wake of incidents of sexual violence, domestic abuse, childhood trauma, or the sudden arrest of a family member. These situations create an environment of fear, confusion, and uncertainty. Amidst the stigma and silence, Hope After Harm stands as a beacon of hope. We offer innovative and non-judgmental specialist support to young people, victim-survivors, and families.

We are proud to work with approximately 1,600 clients each year providing confidential casework, support groups, mentoring and restorative justice, training, and digital services. Through support, advocacy, and education, we work with people to rebuild their lives and reclaim their future, and we inspire others to do the same, creating safer, more inclusive communities for us all.

Inspire Bucks (working in partnership with Mehiel Foundation

Inspire Bucks is a Buckinghamshire-based charity helping people within and just leaving the care system. We run a county-wide Christmas Toy Appeal which in 2024 helped nearly 4,300 children receive gifts that they otherwise may not have. We also give out small grants to care leavers to help them tackle the ‘care cliff’ that currently exists, which provides them with educational materials, transportation aids and other little items to help them get the best possible start to adult life.

Sacks of Hope - Mehiel Foundation (working in partnership with Inspire Bucks)

Sacks of Hope is a grassroots charity initiative, organised by the Mehiel Foundation, that brings dignity, joy, and essential support to underprivileged families during the most financially and emotionally challenging time of year, Christmas. Each festive season, volunteers pack and deliver thoughtfully curated sacks filled with staple groceries, fresh fruit and vegetables, hygiene products, and festive treats. Every child in the family also receives a toy voucher, ensuring no one is left out of the joy.

What began as a small community effort has grown into a movement of compassion, easing food poverty, empowering inclusion, and restoring hope in communities where it’s needed most.

Myeloma UK

Since 1997, Myeloma UK has been the only UK charity dedicated exclusively to myeloma—a type of blood cancer—and its related conditions. Over 33,000 people in the UK are currently living with myeloma, with 17 people newly diagnosed each day. Since we started our work 28 years ago, the average life expectancy of a myeloma patient has quadrupled.

Our goal is to enable people to live longer, better lives with myeloma, and we offer extensive support services for patients, caregivers, and families, including:

Practical advice, information and support via our confidential Infoline and Ask the Nurse email service
Extensive Patient Information resources, and online and in-person Infodays, to help people navigate life with myeloma
Support Groups and Peer Buddy Service, to provide emotional support and friendship from people affected by myeloma

We are dedicated to increasing the quality and standards of myeloma care and treatment across the UK and providing a wide range of resources, support, and training to myeloma healthcare professionals – including GPs, nurses, haematologists, laboratory scientists and allied health professionals.

Our project will see us work in partnership with healthcare professionals across Buckinghamshire to raise awareness of myeloma and increase the quality of care for people affected by myeloma across the county. Ultimately, the project will enable those affected by myeloma in Buckinghamshire to live longer and better lives, now and in the future.

One-Eighty (in partnership with Restore Hope)

One-Eighty is an award-winning emotional and behavioural support charity that works with young people aged 4-18 who are experiencing mental health challenges, have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), or are neurodivergent.

The charity helps young people re-engage with education through intensive one-to-one interventions tailored to complex needs, preventative mental health projects designed to offer support before a crisis point is reached, and training and supervision for professionals working with young people. One-Eighty has a proven track record of supporting young people to overcome barriers, build resilience, and achieve positive outcomes in education and wellbeing.

Restore Hope (in partnership with One-Eighty)

Restore Hope has been changing the lives of local families in crisis since 2002. Awarded the King’s Award for Voluntary Service (2025) and Heart of Bucks People’s Choice Award (2023), the charity provides relational, community-based support for children, young people, and their families from our sites in Chesham and Amersham.

We tackle the root causes of poverty by improving mental health, physical well-being, education, and employability. From growing food for families in need to delivering parenting sessions, life skills courses, and youth programmes, we restore hope so that everyone can have a better tomorrow.

The Brilliant Club

The Brilliant Club is a university access charity which mobilises the PhD community to support students who are less advantaged to access the most competitive universities and succeed when they get there.

The Wednesday Club

The Wednesday Club is a charitable organisation committed to enhancing the well-being and quality of life for elderly individuals in our community. We provide a welcoming, inclusive, and stimulating environment where older people can connect with others, access support, and participate in meaningful activities that promote independence and joy in later life.

Wendover Shed

Wendover Shed is a community project to set up a shared space where people can meet to create and share practical projects, with access to working facilities, tools, and each other’s help and experience. The goal is to promote health and well-being through social interaction and practical activities.

No special skills are needed to join. We have opportunities for many types of members. You might be looking to join our practical make and mend sessions or simply meet up for a coffee and a natter. You might want to help us paint our new shed or help us with a small garden outside. Alternatively, you may be looking to get more involved as a volunteer, helper, or sponsor to support our activities.