Charitable organisations, like Illuminate, will inevitably close, it’s part of a natural lifecycle and we would like to take the opportunity to applaud the organisation for making this brave decision allowing a thoughtful and honest ending to its 15-year life span. 

We spoke to Maria Varallo, who worked for the charity from its start and is one of its founders along with Sam Greenly, about closing and the messages we could pass on to other organisations who may also be deciding what the future holds. The decision to close was based on many factors resonating with small charitable organisations across the country. 

Illuminate proved itself as a local provider of mental health training and coaching across the sector. Maria told us Illuminate was borne after she had completed a postgraduate diploma in coaching and met Sam Greenly who was in a similar position, initially the charity ran small test projects at Cambridge Women’s Resource Centre, supplying courses for women about building self-confidence and confidence for change. 

At the time, the idea of mental health was about fixing ‘broken’ people and the idea of ‘coaching’ was an expensive, mysterious concept usually targeted at business executives. Illuminate was a pioneer in using the coaching model to support women to achieve their potential. Maria says they wanted to create a ‘level playing field, so benefits of coaching were accessible to all’. 

In just 15 years, the whole concept of how we talk, think and deliver mental health support has changed, COVID has changed all our perceptions. Maria recalls that funders originally were never keen on funding 1-2-1 work, this was deemed too expensive and was considered more cost-effective if delivered through group work, but this has changed, the benefit of individual work is now regarded as key to supporting health and wellbeing. 

In turn, the coaching market has become incredibly competitive, there has been a profusion of ‘coaches’ available to hire, and differentiating yourself, your knowledge, experience and ability is difficult to do as an unregulated activity (unlike counselling). This was also another factor contributing to the decision to close. 

Other factors that have come into play are the size and scope of the charity itself, with 2 staff members driving its work, so much time needs to be dedicated to income generation and after 15 years of working towards funders’ guidelines, there has been an erosion of spirit. This coupled with an incredibly challenging economic environment, meeting day-to-day living costs needs prioritisation over the longevity of the charitable organisation.  

In saying that, Illuminate were fortunate with a great relationship with the National Lottery that enabled them to reach many individuals in the local area. 

With the foresight to know -that sustaining a level of income to generate an acceptable income to run financially was a job in itself – the decision was first made 18 months ago to bring this side of the story to a close. We applaud the trustees of Illuminate for making the brave decision to close allowing an exit plan that is responsible and considerate across all aspects of the organisation. 

So, what can we all learn from this?  

Deciding to close, is not a sign of failure, it’s a logical, personal, collective, responsible, and legal way to end an era. Passion alone cannot pay the bills, control the market and keep a charity running. There are many rewards for running a small charity but it’s not easy either. 

We would urge anyone reading this if an uncomfortable feeling is being thrown up when you think of your organisation’s future, to consider it’s not about keeping it going at all costs, maybe it is about a considered closure before crash landing or limping along to an obscured end. 

 Stewarding Loss is an organisation, that opens how we think about endings, its mission is to support and influence civil society at all levels to dedicate time, energy, care and resources to endings in the same way that it does to beginnings-uninhibited by fear, stigma, prejudice and rooted in best practice. It has some great resources such as :Toolkits — Stewarding Loss . 

Illuminate will close for good on the 28th of March, look at the website Coaching and training Cambridge l East of England – Illuminate Charity for the testimonies from people who have received help from their services. We thank all the staff, trustees, associates and funders who have enabled Illuminate to help change the landscape by talking about and looking after our mental health.