It's official !
On August 26th we saw the cumulation of a lot of hard work – the logical next step in our journey – Wellness Walks is now an officially registered charity.
What does it mean for the organisation ?
Becoming a charity means that we can now be solely focused on our social mission:
“We want as many people as possible in as many places as possible to be able to go on a totally free Wellness Walk and take the first steps towards feeling better”
Becoming a formal charity is a powerful recognition of the positive impact Wellness Walks is having on mental health across the UK. It signals to the public, supporters, and potential partners that our work is credible, impactful, and worthy of investment. This status demonstrates that we meet strict regulatory standards, reinforcing trust and confidence in our mission. It also places us within a broader network of charities, allowing us to collaborate, learn, and strengthen our reach as a growing movement.
How did we get to here ?
Wellness Walks began as the charitable output of our social enterprise Mental Health North West CIC Ltd in 2021. Back then it was just our founder, Kelvyn James, offering Wellness Walks as and when the CIC had spare funds or time.
But as we saw the impact the Wellness Walks was having for the people who attended, as everybody we met said “what a brilliant idea” – we knew we had to make it a bigger more robust thing.
For most of 2022 and 2023 we slowly refined what we did. We started to make partnerships with various organisations and slowly, but surely the Wellness Walks we are now became a thing.
By 2024 our occassional charitable output – Wellness Walks – had become our primary activity and purpose – and we knew that by definition we were effectively a charity – so we began the long, complicated and arduous process of transitioning from a Community Interest Company (CIC) to a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO). We sailed through the process and got Charity Commission approval on the first application (most definitely not the norm) – everyone can see the benefit of what we do,
What's next ?
Well now the real work begins!
We started as just one dot on the map in Cumbria , one person doing their little bit of good – now we’ve literally dozens of walks happening across the North West of the UK every week – Cumbria, Lancashire, Yorkshire & North Wales all have fantastic teams of volunteers supporting their chosen communities..
But.
We’re serious when we say “everyone” and “everywhere”
Writing this it is Autumn 2024 and we’ve over 50 volunteers somewhere in the training pathway. We’ve walks happening in the Highlands and Hertfordshire, from Wales to Oxfordshire – our network is growing all the time.
We’ve just begun training the next cohort of volunteers in Perth & Kinross, more volunteers are finishing their training in the Yorkshire Dales and we’re about to start recruiting in mid-Wales. On top of that we’re actively looking for funding opportunities across the UK.
But it’s not just about where – community means different things to different people. So in 2025 we’ll be supporting the LGBTQ+ community with specific training, we’ll be expanding our Women Only and Global Majority courses and reaching out to many many other under-represented or marginalised groups.
Achieving charity status opens up new opportunities for growth and evolution. It allows us to access a wider range of funding sources, including grants and donations that are only available to registered charities. This increased funding potential will enable us to expand our services, train more walk leaders, and reach more communities. Additionally, being a charity provides a formal structure, ensuring our governance and operational models are robust and sustainable, supporting our journey to become a nationwide social movement.
This is just the beginning.