• GambleAware publishes a report evaluating its Community Resilience Fund, which funded programmes in a diverse range of communities who are at risk of experiencing gambling harm, sharing learnings from the first year of the fund.
• Outcomes include improved awareness of gambling harm within local communities, increased provision of early intervention support for people experiencing harms, and staff at organisations gaining increased confidence and knowledge to support people effectively.
• Report estimates that around 100,000 people were reached with awareness messages targeted to local communities, around 5,200 people received light-touch interventions and support and 720 received more in-depth interventions.

GambleAware has today published an independent evaluation report, produced by Ipsos and New Philanthropy Capital, setting out achievements and learning from the first year of its Community Resilience Fund (CRF).

The CRF provided grants to 21 community-based organisations in England, Wales, and Scotland to deliver gambling harms support and raise awareness. These organisations had existing expertise in working with a diverse range of communities who are at risk of experiencing gambling harm but are currently underrepresented in gambling support services, including people from ethnic minority and marginalised groups, and people experiencing poverty and living in areas of high deprivation.

Most of these organisations, which include charities helping people experiencing homelessness, and charities set up by professional sports teams, had not previously delivered any specific support for gambling harms. The CRF grants provided them with an opportunity to explore, often for the first time, how gambling harms connect with other issues affecting their service users and local communities, and enabled them to test and develop new awareness and support approaches.

For GambleAware, the programme was a new way of commissioning gambling harms awareness and support services. It was designed to provide funding to organisations GambleAware had not previously funded, and to support learning what works for different target groups.

Among the outcomes outlined in the report were improved awareness of gambling harm within local communities. The organisations were also able to give more early intervention support for people experiencing gambling harms, and their staff reported that they had increased confidence and knowledge to support people more effectively.

In total, around 100,000 people were reached with awareness messages as a result of the CRF programme, including through activities such as information stands and leaflet distribution. In addition, around 5,200 people received light-touch interventions such as screening for gambling harm and 720 people received more in-depth interventions such as one-to-one or group support for gambling harms or related health, wellbeing and social support needs.

Despite the scale of awareness raising, some organisations reported that they had not reached the number of service users that they hoped to, and said that issues of stigma and shame, and gambling being a hidden and misunderstood harm, may have stopped many people in their communities from coming to them for support.

Anna Hargrave, GambleAware Chief Commissioning & Strategy Officer, said: “Gambling harm can affect anyone, but we know certain communities are at higher risk of experiencing harm. These are the people we wanted to reach with our Community Resilience Fund. We are pleased that the organisations who received funding were able to help so many people in their communities, especially as many of the people they work with are from marginalised groups who may not usually access gambling support services.

“It is concerning that stigma may have stopped some people coming forward for help from the organisations which received funding. At GambleAware we have campaigned to try and end the stigma associated with gambling harm so that people feel able to come forward and get support, and we will continue working towards this goal.”

One of the organisations which received funding was Big Issue Changing Lives CIC. This social enterprise works with individuals experiencing homelessness, poverty, or marginalisation to provide them with opportunities to gain economic self-sufficiency. As part of the CRF programme, Big Issue Changing Lives focused on addressing gambling-related harms among vendors of the Big Issue and aimed to prevent individuals from turning to gambling to manage their financial hardship. Big Issue Vendor Outreach Workers were trained to understand the risk factors and indicators of gambling harm and to provide appropriate support. Activities included distributing leaflets, providing information and advice on gambling risks, screening for gambling harms, and supporting access to gambling specialists, mental health services, and addiction services.

Gwyn Thomas de Chroustchoff, Service Development Manager at the Big Issue Changing Lives CIC said: “We are very grateful to the CRF for their support. Through this programme, our Big Issue vendor support teams have learnt how to broach conversations around gambling with our vendors, building relationships and trust with those affected. It’s really opened our eyes on how we talk about this issue and ways we can protect our vendors from gambling harm.

“We appreciated working with the project team at GambleAware, and their responsive grant management approach. We also were pleased to have regular opportunities to share learnings with other organisations in the fund, with the monitoring, evaluation and learning support offered.”

The Community Resilience Fund programme is set to continue expanding on some of the learnings so far. Eleven of the organisations which received funding last year will receive further funding to continue their work.

ENDS

Notes to editors
1.    The organisations which received funding were Age UK Westminster, Al Hurraya, Alabare Christian Care & Support, Azad Kashmir Welfare Association, Big Issue Changing Lives CIC, Blackburn Foodbank, Coram’s Field, DAAS Derbyshire Alcohol Advice Service, Epic Restart Foundation, Hull FC Rugby Community Sports and Education Foundation, IMO Charity, Just B (St Michael’s Hospice), Mind Suffolk, Prison Radio Association, Reframe Coaching, Shama Women’s Centre, Simon Community Scotland, Solihull Moors Foundation, The Cedarwood Trust, Wigan Warriors Community Foundation, and Yellow Scarf.