And with the Fund celebrating its 125th anniversary, for the first time the report is available as an interactive e-brochure, as well as being available as a more traditional .pdf download.

VIEW THE INTERACTIVE BROCHURE

DOWNLOAD THE PDF VERSION

It is aimed at improving understanding of the impact - literally - of our work and the difference we have made to countless numbers of people over the last 12 months.

And the new electronic format of the report helps us to keep costs down by reducing the number of printed copies we need to produce.

The 2010 Impact Report tells the stories of several people who relied on their in-house charity to get them through tough times.

Brett Johnson, for example, is a retired civil servant who suffers mobility problems following a stroke, and the onset of arthritis. The Fund helped him by providing him with a mobility scooter.

He says, “I have to say, I’m very pleased with the new machine, it’s doing sterling service.

“It means I can go shopping and to my doctor’s appointments, and then I might toddle up to the Hove to watch the fireworks in August.

“It can go the whole day on one charge – 12-15 miles I’d say. Whereas me, I can only manage 100 yards walking and then I have to stop.”

Richard Hughes, meanwhile, developed aneurysms on both sides of his heart while working for the Ministry of Defence, and his pay stopped after a year off work through ill health.

The Fund came to his rescue to prevent small debts from snowballing into a bigger, more stressful, problem.

“I was really down in the dumps,” he said. “A friend of mine who worked with me at MoD told me about the Fund.

“They gave me two cheques – one for my rent arrears and one for food. It was very good of them; they got me back on track.

“I think if it wasn’t for the Fund I could have maybe been on the streets now.”

And Stephanie Pearce, who works at the UK Border Agency, turned to the Fund after a fire devastated the house in which she lived with her two children. She needed help with temporary accommodation while the house was repaired.

“The Fund definitely had a sense of urgency that the loss adjusters didn’t.

“In fact I didn’t get any interim payments from the loss adjusters for five months and they still haven’t settled my claim. I don’t know how we would have got through it without any help.”

Their full stories, and more real-life examples of how the Fund makes a difference, can be found in the Impact Report.

The report also shows the importance of our supporters in helping us do this - both donors and volunteers - whose contributions make all of this possible.

So please take the time to read it, and see how your support makes a massive difference.

The Fund is enormously grateful to all the people who shared their stories with us for the Impact Report, and to all of our supporters for being part of a community that does so much to make lives better.