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People Power: BEAM

People Power: Beam

Alex Stephany, founder of Beam, tells how they use crowdfunding to make a difference to the lives of homeless people and refugees.

This is a feature from Issue 14 of Charitable Traveller.

What is Beam?

It’s a social enterprise that supports homeless people and refugees move into stable jobs and homes for the long term. We do this through our crowdfunding platform, where we remove the financial barriers standing in people’s way. We’re also giving people the skills to sustainably support themselves, and our team of caseworkers help people with digital skills, CV writing, applying for jobs and navigating the housing rental market.

Where did the idea come from?

Five years ago, I got to know a homeless man outside my local Tube station in North London. I’d buy him cups of coffee and pairs of socks when it was getting cold. At one point, he disappeared for weeks on end. When he reappeared, he looked years older; he told me he’d had a heart attack and had just come out of hospital. For all the well-meaning gestures from myself and no doubt others, he was in a worse position than ever. So I began to ask myself what it would take to make a lasting difference to this man’s life. He had been out of work for years. For me, the answer lay in empowering him with the skills, confidence and support needed to sustainably look after himself. Of course, that would cost far more than coffees or socks – but what if everyone chipped in?
That’s when the idea of ‘crowdfunding’ employment training for homeless people was born. Over the following months, I co-developed the model working with homeless people and charities and launched Beam in October 2017.

How do you help people?

Homeless people are referred to Beam by the more than 50 charities and local councils that we partner with. We have a team of caseworkers that helps each person create an employment or housing plan around their unique goals and aspirations. We then prepare a fundraising page on our website to cover the cost of them moving into a stable job or home. Members of the public donate towards training, work tools, childcare costs and rental deposits, and receive feel-good updates on the people they’ve helped. We then match our beneficiaries with socially-conscious landlords and ethical employer partners.

What is your impact?

Over the past five years, we’ve supported more than 1,200 homeless people into jobs and homes across the UK. We’ve also raised more than £3.6m in donations, 100% of which removes the exact financial barriers facing each person. This led to us winning a Queen’s Award for Enterprise for promoting opportunity through social mobility in 2021. But this is only the beginning – we have big ambitions to support thousands more people and change lives all around the world.

What would you like to see change in your area?

So few entrepreneurs are building technology to support the most disadvantaged people in our society, despite the rising cost of living and increased isolation and mental health problems. Take Silicon Valley – home to some of the most innovative tech start-ups in the world yet few build solutions to tackle the problems on their doorstep, especially homelessness. I hope that Beam can pave the way for more Tech for Good businesses. 

Can you give us an example of how you've helped people and the difference you've made yo people's lives?

Beam’s impact is best told through the countless stories of the people we support, like 33-year-old Henrietta. When Henrietta was referred to Beam last year, she was living in a small room in a women’s refuge with her two children after escaping an abusive relationship. She told us she wanted to get back into work to become financially stable and provide a safe environment for her children. A passionate cook, Henrietta raised £2,354 through Beam to fund her Food Safety & Hygiene and Food Allergies certificates, childcare, travel, work clothes and a laptop. She then landed a job as a nursery chef and was supported by her local council into stable housing. Henrietta is just one example of how Beam is changing lives.

What is your biggest challenge?

One of our challenges is awareness; just a fraction of the people who care about homelessness have heard of Beam and still only 3,000 people each month support homeless people through Beam. If you’re reading this and want to make a tangible, long-lasting impact on the lives of homeless people and refugees, head to our website and read the incredible stories of people turning their lives around: beam.org

What is a social enterprise to you

A social enterprise is an unusual type of business that’s focused on social impact. We focus on ‘social metrics’ rather than financial metrics. In Beam’s case, that’s the number of people who we support into stable jobs and homes. We get paid by the government to support people to achieve these outcomes at levels well below what the cost to the taxpayer would be if they remained welfare dependent.
The more people we help, the more we grow as a business. That keeps us laser-focused on providing the highest quality service to the greatest number of people. We are proud to be a social enterprise and believe that the business world has huge untapped potential to solve problems at scale and do good in the world.

What's next for Beam?
We’ve recently expanded Beam’s service to support Afghan and Ukrainian refugees into stable jobs and housing. As we grow, our goal is to support many more disadvantaged groups – from prison leavers to people with disabilities – who face similar barriers. We’ve also had a lot of requests to take Beam overseas, and are currently looking for someone to help grow Beam outside the UK.
the power of crowdfunding

Find out how you can help someone turn their life around for good by donating directly to a homeless person or refugee. beam.org

This is a feature from Issue 14 of Charitable Traveller.