Collectively, we have the power to shape the future of social care.
The Caring Economy
Carefree’s intervention is rooted in the belief that we need systemic change, not sticking plasters. Our goal is for every full-time unpaid carer to have access to a break, but our long-term vision is even more ambitious. By enabling individuals and businesses to share their resources and promoting a sense of co-responsibility, we are laying the foundations for a society in which caring for one another becomes the norm.
Impact model
Value
Carefree’s model creates a virtuous circle that adds value to all of our stakeholders. Our Hospitality Partners are enabled to transform surplus assets and bake social impact into the DNA of their business. For our Community Partners, the benefits are equally powerful. Donated accommodation from the hospitality industry creates an exponential increase in capacity with no impact on their resources, while improved wellbeing amongst carers creates resilience and longevity.
Our integrated network dramatically increases capacity, minimising the pressure on public finances and enabling repurposed assets to be delivered directly into the hands of carers. It’s a future-facing and mutually beneficial model of regeneration that sees care not as a burden on the state but as an integral part of our lives and a fundamental cog in the wheel of our economy.
86 %
no break without our help
98 %
reported improvement in wellbeing
96 %
referral partners report increased access to breaks
Scale potential
With 1 million empty hotel rooms in the UK every week and thousands of holiday cottages unoccupied for up to half of the year, the potential number of short breaks per annum exceeds 20 million. Even a fraction of that figure represents an intervention of truly meaningful scale. Throughout the world millions of carers face identical challenges, so our model of social intervention is specifically designed to be replicated internationally.
Recognition
- Winner: Sustainability (Skift Innovation Design & Experience Awards 2020)
- Winner: Breakthrough Charity of the Year (Third Sector Awards 2019)
- Best Practice Example (Social Care Institute for Excellence 2019)
- Selected for ‘Tech To Unite Us’ (Social Tech Trust 2019/20)
- Awarded multi-year funding by the National Lottery Community Fund and the Postcode Innovation Trust
Support us!
To date we have been supported in equal measure by individual donors, institutions and trusts including Baillie Gifford, The Boltini Trust, Crix Capital, Crystal Amber Fund, Englefield Charitable Trust, Franklin Templeton, Garfield Weston Foundation, Paul Hodges, National Lottery Community Fund, Postcode Innovation Trust, Social Tech Trust, The Swire Charitable Trust and Andrew Tinkler. Without their generosity we would not be able to do what we do.
If you’re interested in funding opportunities or a brand partnership, click on the button below and send us a message. We’d love to hear from you.
See Carefree in action
Every now and again you get the opportunity to be involved with something truly special. Carefree is one of those things.
Carefree provides an answer to the question ‘who cares for the carers?’ I commend both the charity and its philosophy.
We feel privileged to support Carefree. The concept is simple, yet brilliant, and has the potential to dramatically improve the wellbeing of thousands of society’s unsung heroes.
We are delighted to offer three-year funding to Carefree, an exciting, innovative, tech-driven intervention in support of carer wellbeing.
