NGS celebrates 25 years of charity partnership & £21m of funding
Melanie May | 24 August 2021 | News
The National Garden Scheme (NGS) is celebrating 25 years of partnership and £21 million of funding for three UK charities – Marie Curie, Hospice UK and Carers Trust.
The NGS celebrated with an event on 18 August at Stonor Park, which saw it hold a garden visit and afternoon tea for unpaid carers and frontline hospice and hospital workers, as well as charity volunteers and Chief Executives.
The National Garden Scheme was founded in 1927 by The Queen’s Nursing Institute to raise money for district nurses. Since then it has given annual donations to nursing and health charities totalling over £60 million. Marie Curie, Hospice UK and Carers Trust all became beneficiaries of the National Garden Scheme in 1996. Marie Curie has received £10.3 million in funding since then, with Hospice UK receiving £6.4 million, and Carers Trust £5 million.
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Marie Curie CEO, Matthew Reed commented:
National Garden Scheme Chief Executive, George Plumptre said:
rnrn“Twenty-five years ago in 1996 our donations went to support district nurses and Macmillan nurses. The addition of these three charities extended donations to palliative care nurses, hospice care and carers, thereby making a significant expansion to our charitable impact.rnrn rnrn rnrn“Since then, the combined total of more than £21 million that we have given to these three great organisations has made us the most significant cumulative funder of each. The total, and our ability to provide long-term funding commitments to these nursing and health charities, is something that we are immensely proud of and keen to celebrate.”rnrn rnrn rnrn
2020 saw the NGS donate almost £3m, despite the challenges of the pandemic meaning its gardens were closed. It opened a number of its gardens virtually instead, and it also launched the Great British Garden Party to encourage people to hold their own garden events.
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About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.