Finance Score: 2
Governance Score: 6
Support Score: 12
  • Strong growth: +2
  • Dynamic board: +3
  • Gender balanced board: +3
  • Grant maker support: +12
Overall GiG Score: 20 ?

BREAKING BARRIERS 

Overview

Breaking Barriers offers refugees a comprehensive package of training and mentoring services that help them gain employment and integrate more comfortably into the UK workforce. The innovative delivery of these programmes is backed by impact assessment and is spearheaded by CEO Matthew Powell, who has won awards for his contributions toward finding sustainable solutions to the difficulties refugees face.

Programmes have been adapted to a digital space during the pandemic to be as effective as possible. Corporate partners have aided their remote work by providing invaluable workshops that give a unique experience that refugees might otherwise never have.

Source: Giving is Great

Mission:

Helping refugees gain stability in their lives and become productive members of society
Analysis by Giving is Great

Positives:

  • There has been strong growth in spending over the last 5 years
  • There have been no material income shortfalls in recent years
  • A significant proportion of recent income was derived from major grant makers including the Government
  • The Board appears to be well diversified in terms of gender and dynamic in terms of composition
Established: 9 years

www.breaking-barriers.co.uk

enquiries@breaking-barriers.co.uk

02045410155

Charity Commission for England and WalesFacebookInstagramX
UN SDGs
?
How you can help

Financial Data ?

Income & Spending ?
Sources of Income ?
Y/E Income
£k
Spending
£k
Surplus/
Deficit
Fundraising
Cost £k
Total
Funds £k
Unrestricted
Funds £k
Mths
Rsrvs
Staff Volun-
teers
31/05/23£3,799£3,263£536£569£1,891£1,3284.966314
31/05/22£2,851£2,298£554£321£1,353£9935.250288
28/05/21£1,834£1,561£273£252£703£655540254
28/05/20£1,426£1,278£149£165£431£4073.830293
28/05/19£1,006£1,030£-24£115£282£2102.520424
28/05/18£741£448£293£30£306£2376.480
28/05/17*£165£161£5£0£0£0n/a00
28/05/16£42£32£10£0£0£0n/a00

Financial Ratios
Fundraising Costs/Relevant Income: 15%
Fundraising Costs/Total Spending: 17.4%
Senior Staff Costs/Total Spending: 6%
Highest pay band: £80,000-£90,000
Liabilities/Assets: 11%
Liabilities/Income: 6%
Unrestricted Funds/Total Funds: 70%
Reserves/Spending: 4.9 months
Net Current Assets/Spending: 7 months
Quick Ratio: 6.9
Asset Split ?
Comment: Main sources of income are from corporate partner donations, statutory grants and grants from trusts and foundations. Their ongoing strategy hopes to diversify income sources so the reliance on corporate partners can be reduced and increased multi-year donor commitments can provide more security. In line with this strategy, their funding has allowed the charity to continue development and expansion of its operations in London and put in place a robust senior leadership team to drive further growth.

Services are delivered directly by staff with assistance from a group of volunteers which mean staff costs are the largest portion of the organisation’s costs at over 50% of total expenditure historically. When first attempting to support clients remotely, they struggled with efficient infrastructure and resource management so made the decision in early April 2020 to furlough almost all staff and suspend all services. This was a difficult choice but had a key impact on their financial position that meant they could continue partial programme delivery as best they could while updating infrastructure and policies. All staff returned to work by mid-June and they have now adapted programmes accordingly.

Source: Giving is Great

What it does
Breaking Barriers empowers refugees to find stable and fulfilling employment through bespoke, 1-1 support. They work in partnership with the private, non-profit and public sectors to provide paid work placements and permanent job opportunities as well as offering practical skills workshops like English language and IT classes.
Listed activities
  • Economic/Community Development/Employment
  • Education/Training
  • Human Rights/Religious Or Racial Harmony/Equality Or Diversity
  • The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty
How it operates
  • Provides advocacy/advice/information
  • Provides human resources
  • Provides services
Where it operates
  • Scotland, Throughout England And Wales,
Who it helps
  • Children/Young People
  • Elderly/Old People
  • People Of A Particular Ethnic Or Racial Origin
  • People With Disabilities
Who works here?
  • 66 employees
  • 314 volunteers

Who's supporting them? ?

Donations from Grant Makers ?

We have details on the following significant donations. Multi-year donations are allocated to the years for which they are earmarked.

Major supporters in last 5 years
National Lottery Community Fund£250,000
City Bridge Trust£173,000
Henry Smith Charity£120,000
Trust for London£108,000
The Clothworkers Foundation£100,000
Garfield Weston Foundation£80,000
The Rayne Foundation£60,000
Barrow Cadbury Trust£50,000
Specific Donations
Amount When
Months
To be used for
The EQ Foundation - Grant to BREAKING BARRIERS
£7,500 23/02/2024
Big Give Christmas Challenge 2023
National Lottery Community Fund - Supporting refugees in Birmingham into employment
£240,000 28/09/2023
This funding will be used to deliver employment sessions and holistic 1-2-1 support ensuring that the client develops their employment strategy with the help of on-site experts and English and IT ....more
Quartet Community Foundation - Grant to Breaking Barriers
£10,000 09/08/2023
As directed by the donor towards helping refugees living in the UK rebuild their lives through education, training and employment.
The Shears Foundation - Breaking Barriers
£5,500 06/04/2023
Supporting refugees into meaningful employment in Manchester
The EQ Foundation - Grant to Breaking Barriers
£10,000 06/03/2023
Big Give Champion Pledge
Wates Foundation - NWF Oct 22_Futures Programme
£7,000 12/10/2022
Funding towards the salaries two of front-line Integration and Employment Advisers in London to help build capacity and provide holistic support so that young refugees can find stable, fulfilling ....more
City Bridge Trust - Grant to Breaking Barriers
£123,000 21/07/2022
36
£123,000 over three years (£40,000, £41,000, £42,000) to meet growing demands for information, advice, and guidance support and of increase engagement in educational courses for refugees in ....more
National Lottery Community Fund - Refugees at Work: Talent Beyond Barriers
£10,000 17/06/2022
The funding will be used to reintroduce in-person employment support for refugees. The project aims to create an accessible supportive space to help refugees the knowledge and confidence they need to ....more
The EQ Foundation - Grant to Breaking Barriers
£7,500 15/02/2022
Big Give Champion Pledge
Quartet Community Foundation - Grant to Breaking Barriers
£10,000 24/01/2022
As directed by the donor towards helping refugees living in the UK rebuild their lives through education, training and employment.
Garfield Weston Foundation - Multi-Year Grant (2 Years) award
£40,000 17/12/2021
Employment Support for Refugees in London
Henry Smith Charity - Grant to Breaking Barriers
£120,000 07/12/2021
36
towards three years' running costs of a project providing 1 to 1 employment support and education courses for refugees throughout London.
The Clothworkers Foundation - Grant to Breaking Barriers
£100,000 24/06/2021
to support Breaking Barriers to pilot its expansion beyond London.
The EQ Foundation - Grant to BREAKING BARRIERS
£5,000 05/02/2021
Big Give Christmas Challenge 2020
Barrow Cadbury Trust - COVID-19 - Breaking Barriers
£50,000 07/10/2020
6
To provide staff and other costs to enable Breaking Barriers to continue to provide support for client group in finding suitable employment.
City Bridge Trust - Grant to Breaking Barriers
£50,000 28/09/2020
towards the delivery of bespoke employment support and advice to unemployed and underemployed refugees across London, as outlined in your application
London Catalyst - Breaking Barriers - 2
£3,000 08/09/2020
Dedicated Employment and Integration Adviser supporting refugees in East London to integrate through stable, meaningful employment.
DCMS - Coronavirus Community Support Fund
£40,000 29/07/2020
"The fund aims to:1) To reduce closures of essential charities that provide essential services to vulnerable groups during the COVID-19 crisis by ensuring they have the financial resources to ....more
Rank Foundation - Resilience Fund Breaking Barriers 2020
£15,000 29/05/2020
To support core costs
Garfield Weston Foundation - Main Grants award
£40,000 14/02/2020
Breaking Barriers: Core Costs
AB Charitable Trust - A grant to Breaking Barriers
£10,000 09/01/2020
An unrestricted grant of £10,000. Breaking Barriers provides an advice and guidance service for refugees seeking employment in London. It provides 1-1 support, education and training, and works in ....more
The EQ Foundation - Grant to BREAKING BARRIERS
£2,500 15/12/2019
Big Give Christmas Challenge 2019
Trust for London - Breaking Barriers
£108,000 13/06/2019
36
The funding is for Breaking Barrier’s new Aspire programme which supports refugees in London who are underemployed, experiencing in-work poverty and/or who want to develop to progress into roles ....more
The Rayne Foundation - Grant to Breaking Barriers
£60,000 03/06/2019
36
Towards the salary of a caseworker supporting refugees living in London into meaningful employment, commensurate with their skills and experience.
Garfield Weston Foundation - Main Grants award
£20,000 25/07/2018
Core cost project towards Breaking Barriers
London Catalyst - Breaking Barriers - 1
£3,000 09/05/2018
A contribution towards a caseworker?s salary who supports refugees to find employment, education or training.
Lloyds Bank Foundation - Grant to Breaking Barriers
£75,000 30/11/2017
36
Charity providing paid work placements and mentoring support to refugees and migrants helping them find meaningful long term employment.
Show more rows

Data sourced from Donors via 360 Giving

How do they operate?

BB Prospects

Objectives: To allow refugees to gain paid work experience from corporate partners and permanent job opportunities, starting at London Living Wage, that will help harness their skills and knowledge to enable them to thrive in the UK.

Intervention period: 1 year

Beneficiaries: Refugees

Description: BB Prospects is the umbrella programme encompassed of two sub-programmes, BB Academy and BB Opportunities.

The BB Academy programme offers clients the opportunity to apply for bespoke, paid work placements, and the placements are designed to prepare clients for a permanent role in their chosen professional field.

Through the BB Opportunities programme, Breaking Barriers partners with businesses who offer permanent living wage job opportunities for eligible clients. They maintain contact with and provide post-employment support to every client who finds a role with one of their partners for up to twelve months, which assists with their continuing personal and professional development.

BB First Steps

Objectives: To support refugees into their first job in the UK

Intervention period: Intervention period varies

Beneficiaries: Unemployed refugees

Description: The programme works helps explain the expectations of the UK job market and supports refugees in writing CV’s and cover letters, interview preparation with expert advisors and application guidance.

BB Aspire

Objectives: To progress refugees into roles which are aligned with their aspirations or make better use of their skills

Intervention period: Intervention period varies

Beneficiaries: Refugees who are underemployed or looking to upskill

Description: Refugees who have been supported into employment by the First Steps programme but no longer feel they are in roles that match with their improved skill set are given the chance to continue training support to gain new opportunities. Additional support can include invitations to workshops to help build professional acumen, networking events to meet others within their sector and interview preparation with expert advisers.

BB Futures

Objectives: To provide opportunities to younger refugees

Intervention period: 1 year

Beneficiaries: Young refugees aged 18-25

Description: The programme supports young refugees to enter employment, higher education or training. The year long programme provides them with a dedicated employment and integration adviser, monthly workshops on topics from “Career Day” to “Presentation Skills”, the opportunity to be partnered with a mentor and access to job opportunities from corporate partners.

How effective are they?
Outputs
Outcomes
Y/EPeople accessing servicesPeople moved into employment, education, training or volunteering
28/05/2022623196
28/05/2021462128
28/05/2020474191
Commentary: Breaking Barriers has gone to considerable lengths to establish the Attribution Rate (i.e. the true incremental impact of their services) by using logistical regression modelling. This indicates that without their intervention a person would have a 7% probability of becoming employed; this rises to 22% after 8 hours of intervention and 36% after 22 hours.
See what you could achieve with a donation of: £
How do we calculate this?

Who works here?

  • MATTHEW POWELL
    CEO
    Appointed: November 2014
Breaking Barriers is the brainchild of founder Matthew Powell who realised, while doing a Master’s degree in international development at the London School of Economics, how little support was available to help refugees integrate into society once they had been granted asylum status. He has recently been recognised by Forbes 30 under 30 in 2018 as one of Europe’s leading social entrepreneurs for his sustainable, scalable and business-led ....more

How is it governed?

Trustees (11)
Current Trustees appointed
Gender Split

Legal constitution
  • Charity registered in England & Wales on 29/05/2015, number: 1161901
Gift Aid
  • Registered with HMRC for Gift Aid
Policies in force
  • Bullying and harassment policy and procedures
  • Complaints handling
  • Complaints policy and procedures
  • Conflicting interests
  • Financial reserves policy and procedures
  • Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
  • Internal risk management policy and procedures
  • Paying staff
  • Risk management
  • Safeguarding policy and procedures
  • Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
  • Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
  • Social media policy and procedures
  • Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
  • Trustee expenses policy and procedures
  • Volunteer management
Filing Record
8 returns made; AR17: 20 days late,
Recent reorganisation events:
  • Asset transfer in from WIMBLEDON SYNAGOGUE ARK PROJECT on 03/02/2023
Main office

71-91 Aldwych
Aldwych House
London
WC2B 4HN

Objectives

FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT:A)TO ADVANCE THE EDUCATION AND TRAINING OF THOSE GRANTED REFUGEE STATUS, THEIR DEPENDANTS AND THOSE SEEKING ASYLUM IN THE UNITED KINGDOM SO AS TO ADVANCE THEM IN LIFE AND ASSIST THEM TO ADAPT WITHIN A NEW COMMUNITY;B)THE RELIEF OF UNEMPLOYMENT AND FINANCIAL HARDSHIP OF THOSE GRANTED REFUGEE STATUS, THEIR DEPENDENTS AND THOSE SEEKING ASYLUM IN THE UNITED KINGDOM, BY THE PROVISION OF VOCATIONAL SKILLS TRAINING, ADVICE AND SUPPORT;C)TO ADVANCE THE EDUCATION OF THE PUBLIC IN GENERAL ABOUT THE ISSUES RELATING TO REFUGEES AND THOSE SEEKING ASYLUM; ANDD)THE PROMOTION OF SOCIAL INCLUSION FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT AMONG PEOPLE WHO ARE REFUGEES, THEIR DEPENDENTS OR SEEKING ASYLUM IN THE UNITED KINGDOM, WHO ARE SOCIALLY EXCLUDED ON THE GROUNDS OF THEIR SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC POSITION.

Data Sources

Charity Commission for England and Wales
360 Giving
CharityBase

Tips for Selecting Charities

Which areas of philanthropy are most effective?
The text of this post is taken from an article on the Effective Altruism forum. It suggests that you can achieve the most impact by supporting causes that fight extreme poverty, improving animal welfare....more
Our Top Tips for Philanthropy
Here are some ideas to help you gain more satisfaction from your philanthropy and confidence that the causes you have selected are impactful. Engage your brain, as well as your heart You....more
How to become a Philanthropist
In this Blog we outline a strategy to help people who are new to philanthropy and for those who feel dissatisfied with the impact they are having. Effective philanthropy is immensely rewarding for donors,....more

Giving is Great