Thanks to our amazing and inspiring members, the kindness and generosity of our supporters, and the efforts of our volunteers, staff, and board members, we continued to support and reach people in 2022. Here’s a closer look at what we’ve been doing…
At the start of the year at one of our Community Voice meetings, it was decided that it would be good to have profiles of members on the website. We thought this would be a good way for people who don’t know our organisation to hear more about what we do and what our members are like. The Community Voice group decided on a list of questions that would be good to ask members – including questions about themselves, about autism and about I AM.
Our annual general meeting is a yearly meeting of the general membership of our charity.
The I AM board leads our charity in being transparent and accountable. The charity is open in its work and so we decided to add our board members (baby pictures included) to our website.
See who is on our board by clicking here
We were delighted to have been selected by L’Oreal’s team at their distribution centre in Pilsworth, Bury to be their supported charity of the year. Over 12 months the team from L’Oreal will support us through fundraising events, citizen days, where members of staff can donate one day to work with us on projects.
I AM CEO, Helen Boden was invited into Your FM radio station HQ in Stockport to appear on Pure One Voice: Radio Without Barriers show, hosted by disability charity Pure Innovations, to discuss discrimination towards people with disabilities.
Click here to listen to the interview.
We received great news that Bolton Council had agreed to continue fund our Bolton adults group for 2022-23, and have even increased the amount by 2% to cover increasing costs.
BBC Children in Need funds thousands of charities and projects in every corner of the UK, so we were delighted to receive funding towards supporting our youth clubs and children's school holiday activities for the next 3 years.
Paul Scholes turned out for Curzon Ashton Football Club Coaches against Manchester Corinthians JFC Coaches to raise money for I AM and Royal Manchester Children's Hospital Charity. Over £500 was raised for each charity. We cannot thank Paul and everyone at both clubs for their support, time and generosity.
Click here to see more pictures.
Securing grants is becoming an increasingly competitive process, so we were delighted and very grateful to Trafford Housing Trust for their support, which will help us continue to fund youth clubs, some holiday activities and parent support groups for next 2 years.
Click here to find out more.
We celebrated Autism Awareness Week by focusing on autism and employment, sharing research, statistics, advice, and useful information to help support both autistic employees and employers.
Click here to find out more.
The staff at L'Oréal UK's distribution unit in Bury held a charity fun day with the theme of "7" to raise awareness of the over 700,000 autistic people in the UK and in the process raised almost £600 for I AM.
Various challenge were undertook to raise money for us, including a fitness challenge, table football knockout, and a collective walk the distance from L'real's Bury DC to their head office in Paris.
To support our fundraisers, we designed a new helpful and engaging fundraising pack to make it as easy as possible to raise funds for us. It contains everything you'll need, from ideas and advice on how to get started to a guide on how we use the vital funds
Click here to download a fundraising pack.
I AM would be nothing without its members, so when we decided we wanted to create a video to introduce people to what we do as a charity, we thought the best people to ask would be our members.
Click here to watch the video
In July we got a huge surprise when one of world's greatest football players, Cristiano Ronaldo, gave us a donation. Initially we thought it was a hoax, but we soon realised it was genuine. It took us a little while to get over the shock.
Click here to read the full story.
Due to the state funeral of HM Queen Elizabeth II and as a mark of respect we decided to cancel all our Youth Clubs on this day.
We had been lucky enough to secure 3 places in the 2022 virtual London Marathon which was held on Sunday 2nd October 2022.
Among the Team I AM pacemakers who conquered the world’s greatest marathon and 26.2 miles were Claire Smith, a trustee on the I AM board, Sarah Smith, and Heather Sargeant. Together they raised £1075.
Clicking here to read more.
L'Oréal hosted a fantastic charity quiz night for a number of charities, with all money raised split equally. It was a wonderful event at the Ratcliffe Arms in Rochdale and the I AM quiz quartet gave their best in a very competitive and fun evening.
We were delighted to welcome volunteers from the Manchester office of commercial real estate services and investment firm, CBRE.
Click here to see more pictures.
Creating opportunities, and providing a sense of personal freedom and choice.
We’re a UK registered charity working with and supporting a wide range of people, aged 10 years and upwards, who have a diagnosis of Autistic Spectrum Condition (which can also be called Asperger Syndrome, High Functioning Autism or Autistic Spectrum Disorder) as well as their families, guardians and carers in Greater Manchester.
We offer a wide range of specialist support services to people with autism and their families.
Flexible individual support to suit your requirements and needs.
Social and leisure activities and events for young people and adults.
Support and advice for parents and carers of autistic children.
Advice and guidance for anyone who would like to find out more about autism.
Our community understands the challenges that ASC can bring. We have the knowledge, experience and passion to help individuals and families work through them towards a happier place with autism as a part of their daily lives.
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