Chums Charity

Chums Charity is a Bedfordshire and Luton-based organization dedicated to supporting children, young people, and adults facing mental health and emotional wellbeing challenges, particularly where statutory services fall short. Rooted in addressing local gaps in bereavement and mental health support, it champions values of compassion, inclusion, dignity, and hope through accessible, person-centred therapeutic interventions. Its mission emphasizes fast, tailored responses to build resilience, foster peer connections, and promote long-term wellbeing via community-driven services coproduced with service users.

The charity prioritizes highly specific areas: non-bereavement and bereavement trauma therapy (including sexual abuse and domestic violence exposure), suicide bereavement for families, recreational therapies using football and music for therapy-disengaged youth, babyloss support for grieving parents, and disability friendship schemes for young people with learning or physical disabilities. Beneficiaries are local vulnerable groups, including children, families, and disabled individuals, with activities focused on psycho-social support, early intervention, and inclusive integration.

Eligible applicants are local community groups delivering aligned services in Bedfordshire, Luton, Hertfordshire, or Kent; it prefers grassroots, small-scale organizations embedded in statutory and voluntary networks, with no strict income thresholds or religious restrictions. It does not accept unsolicited applications—initial phone enquiries are required for partnership discussions—and operates no formal deadlines or rounds, making ad hoc decisions based on need and strategic fit. Grant details are unpublished, but funding supports project delivery, capacity building, and collaborations (roughly £600,000 annually across services), excluding unrestricted or core costs.

Distinctively, Chums avoids generic mental health funding, emphasizing niche bereavement, trauma, and recreational interventions absent from public provision, with strong regional focus and user-led development setting it apart from broader grantmakers.