Nationwide donates furniture to two local charities

Both IPSUM and SMASH received grants from the Oakfield Community Response fund, set up by Nationwide and Wiltshire Community Foundation in 2020, to support charities and community groups through the pandemic. Jo visited the charities in early 2022 to find out how the grants had been used and ask if there was anything else Nationwide could do to help them. You can read the article for her original visit to IPSUM here and her original visit to SMASH here, if you’d like to learn more about the organisations.

Both charities asked Jo if there was any way she could help them find replacement furniture for their offices, as theirs were outdated and not fit for purpose. Jo spoke with her colleagues in the Property Services team and was delighted when they told her there was unused furniture in some of the Nationwide offices that could be donated.

Jo arranged with both charities to visit the Nationwide office to pick out the furniture they needed, before contacting Reading-based Active Facilities Management who organised to collect the furniture and deliver it to the relevant charity’s office.

IPSUM’s new craft table is now in their New View Art Room, an artist led studio offering workshops for those in need of support to improve their mental health, learn new skills or take time to relax. The storage cupboards have been used to free up space in the studio, giving service users more room to get creative. Nationwide also provided IPSUM with some new furniture for one of their counselling rooms, making the space more comfortable and inviting for those who need it.

The new furniture for SMASH meant they were able to remove some of their larger units and replace them with smaller solutions. This helped create a bigger space for group activities and a collaboration space for the team to work in, as well as free up some much-needed storage space in the office.

You can find out more about each charity and the fantastic work they do by visiting their websites, just click the below links.

Visit IPSUM’s website 

Visit SMASH’s website