Communities Fund has provided £1,505 of match funding
Keep Gayle's at the Heart of Our Community
London, Greater London, United Kingdom
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Aim
Help us keep Gayle’s Coffee Bar & Community Hub open, protecting jobs, advocacy, Pay-It-Forward support and pathways to financial wellbeing.
Gayle’s Coffee Bar is more than somewhere to buy a coffee. It is a community-rooted social enterprise where people eat, work, connect, access support and are treated with dignity. Now, after building something our community genuinely uses and values, we are fighting to keep its doors open.
My name is Norrisa Gayle, and I am the founder of Share The Cost Global CIC.
Financial wellbeing starts with dignity, trust and access to the right support.
Share The Cost Global CIC helps people experiencing financial hardship feel more secure and in control by combining practical support, advocacy, access to food and essentials, community connection and pathways towards greater independence.
Gayle’s Coffee Bar is an important part of that model. It is a commercially run, community-rooted safe space where people can eat, meet, work, ask for support and build trust without stigma. From that trusted environment, people can be connected to one-to-one advocacy, specialist services and practical help with issues such as forms, benefits, debt, bills and navigating systems that can otherwise feel overwhelming.
Our approach is not about creating dependency. It is about helping people reach the support that already exists, reduce immediate financial pressure and move towards greater confidence, stability and independence.
That wording is supported by the independent Breakthrough evaluation, which records STC’s advocacy and information role and specifically describes a participant whose case improved after engaging with STC through a community café event; STC contacted the Council and Citizens Advice on her behalf, enforcement action was withdrawn, and she received budgeting guidance and help with benefit applications.
More than a café. Built by community. Powered by purpose.
In September 2024, we created Gayle’s Coffee Bar from a simple belief: that a café could be commercially sustainable while also creating meaningful social impact in the community around it.
It was created as a commercially run, community-rooted safe space, somewhere people can eat good, culturally rooted food, meet, work, connect, ask for support or simply feel welcome.
For people experiencing financial hardship, that sense of safety and belonging matters. It can create the space to ask for help, understand options and begin taking practical steps forward without stigma or judgement.
At the heart of everything we do is a belief that when people are treated with dignity and integrity, they have a better opportunity to thrive.
That is what we call The Gayle’s Way.
What happens here matters
We have already proved the model works
Gayle's is not an idea waiting to be tested. It is a working social enterprise with customers, income, community partnerships and measurable social impact.
£68,042
turnover reported in our latest filed financial year
500+
Pay-It-Forward food and drink support transactions
150+
people directly benefiting from our wider work in the last year
Young people aged 13+
accessing our SEND-inclusive workplace pathway.
Real people. Real outcomes.
Our advocacy impact has been independently evidenced, including support that helped one resident have Council Tax enforcement proceedings withdrawn and access budgeting and benefits support.
We have proved that the community uses what we have built. This campaign is about giving it the financial and operational foundations it now needs to become stronger and sustainable.
Through Gayle’s Coffee Bar, Share The Cost Global tackles food insecurity, financial hardship and social isolation while helping people move towards greater independence and greater financial stability. One of the clearest ways you can see that model in action is our Pay-It-Forward system.
Pay-It-Forward — support without stigma
Our Pay-It-Forward model allows one person to contribute towards food or drink for somebody who may need it later.
But what matters just as much as the food is how that support is received.
At Gayle’s, somebody using Pay-It-Forward is a customer first. They are welcomed, served and treated with the same care and dignity as everybody else. There is no separate queue, no reduced experience and no requirement to explain their circumstances to the room.
Our records show 500+ Pay-It-Forward food and drink support transactions. Where donated funds have not covered the full cost of that provision, Share The Cost Global has helped bridge the gap.
We believe dignity changes what becomes possible.
For someone already trying to manage rent, bills, debt or an inadequate income, access to a meal or drink can reduce one immediate pressure. Just as importantly, a warm meal, somewhere safe to sit and being treated as though you belong can give somebody space to think about what comes next rather than only what they are going without today.
We have watched people use Gayle’s to work, complete applications, meet others, rebuild confidence and plan their next steps. Some customers have gone on to secure employment while using the café as a place to work, connect and regroup.
Gayle’s did not get those jobs for them.
It helped create an environment in which they could focus on getting them for themselves.
That distinction is important to us. Our aim is not dependency. It is to create the conditions in which people can feel safe enough, supported enough and well enough to move forward.
Advocacy — creating access, not duplicating services
Food support is only one part of what happens through Share The Cost Global.
Through our advocacy and information service, we support people experiencing financial and practical difficulties to understand their options and access the specialist services, entitlements and support that already exist across our borough and beyond.
We do not want to duplicate good services.
We want to help people reach them.
That can mean helping somebody understand a letter, make a phone call, complete paperwork, prepare for or attend an appointment, follow up a referral, communicate with an organisation or simply stay engaged when navigating a system feels overwhelming.
For somebody already experiencing debt, arrears, low income or financial stress, these barriers can have real consequences. An unanswered letter, an uncompleted form or a missed appointment can mean support is delayed, income is not maximised, or a problem becomes more serious.
Sometimes the biggest barrier is not that support does not exist. It is that somebody does not know where to start, has lost confidence in the process, struggles with forms or communication, or has reached the point where one more unanswered call feels impossible.
We walk alongside people through that process until they no longer need us, while making sure they know we are never too far away if circumstances change.
Our partnerships are therefore central to how we work. By connecting residents with specialist organisations, community partners and existing local services, we help people access the right expertise while increasing the visibility and use of support already available.
Our advocacy is also delivered beyond the café. Through our community residency at Nunhead Community Centre, we provide free, confidential one-to-one advocacy and information appointments, with referrals welcomed from social prescribers and other community organisations and professionals.
The importance of this kind of support has also been independently recognised. In the 2026 Breakthrough evaluation, one participant described Share The Cost Global’s intervention as making her feel “seen as a human, not a number.” After she raised concerns at a community café event, STC contacted the Council and Citizens Advice on her behalf. The evaluation records that Council Tax enforcement proceedings were subsequently withdrawn and that she received budgeting guidance and help with benefit applications.
That is what Financial Wellbeing means to us in practice: reducing immediate pressure where we can, helping people reach specialist support, supporting them to deal with problems before they escalate, and helping them become more confident and better able to navigate their own circumstances.
Across Pay-It-Forward provision, advocacy, youth development and our wider direct support, we estimate that over 150 people directly benefited from Share The Cost Global’s work in the last year alone.
And during the colder months, Gayle’s has also operated as a Warm Hub, providing a warm, welcoming and dignified place where people can spend time, connect and access support without being defined by their circumstances.
Creating different pathways for young people
Our SEND-inclusive youth workplace pathway
One of the parts of our work we are most committed to is what we call our Youth Apprenticeship Programme for young people aged 13+.
It is our own structured, SEND-inclusive youth development and workplace-learning pathway, combining real workplace experience with mentoring, responsibility, routine, learning, emotional development and practical skills. Our ambition is to develop the programme towards recognised accreditation as it grows.
We support young people who may have enormous ability, creativity and entrepreneurial potential but do not always thrive within mainstream education. The aim is not to replace education, but to help young people understand the value of learning while giving them another environment in which they can recognise their strengths, develop confidence and see positive possibilities for their future.
Through real responsibility in the café, young people develop communication, teamwork, customer service, food safety, professionalism, accountability and an understanding of work and enterprise. Alongside the programme, we support access to CPD-accredited learning and development opportunities where appropriate.
This is also part of how we think about long-term Financial Wellbeing. For a young person, greater financial security later in life begins long before their first full-time wage. It begins with confidence, employability, understanding the workplace, developing practical skills, learning responsibility and being able to imagine a future in which they can earn, progress and create opportunities for themselves.
We have seen young people become more confident, reliable and motivated when given an environment that understands them, sets clear expectations and genuinely believes in their potential.
One parent described significant changes in her son’s confidence, responsibility, communication and motivation, explaining that the structure, mentoring and supportive accountability helped him thrive in ways she had not previously seen.
That is what our Youth Apprenticeship Programme is about: not writing young people off because one environment does not work for them, but helping them discover the environments in which they can succeed.
From opportunity to employment
The pathway does not end with young people.
Over time, people have come into Share The Cost Global through work placements and volunteering and progressed into paid employment with us.
Others who are no longer part of the organisation have taken what they learned, confidence, skills, experience and responsibility, and used it to move towards their own goals.
For someone who has been outside employment, lacked recent experience or struggled to see a route forward, that progression can have a direct Financial Wellbeing impact: building employability, creating routes towards earned income and increasing confidence in their ability to support themselves.
For us, that is success too.
We do not want people to remain dependent on STC.
We want people to leave stronger than when they arrived.
And the community tells us what Gayle’s feels like
Sometimes it is difficult for us to describe the atmosphere we have created because we are inside it every day.
But the words customers use tell their own story.
Public reviews repeatedly describe Gayle’s as warm, welcoming, peaceful and community-focused. Customers have specifically recognised the Pay-It-Forward model, the food and the sense of being genuinely cared for. One recent customer simply described Gayle’s as a “really friendly community cafe.”
That experience is reflected in our 4.9-star Google rating across more than 120 customer reviews.
That matters because the safe-space element of Gayle’s is not separate from our social impact. Trust, belonging and dignity are often what make it possible for somebody to ask for support, take an opportunity, return after a setback or begin thinking about what comes next.
It tells us that the values we intended to build into Gayle’s are being felt by the people who walk through the door.
Don’t just take our word for it, read what our customers say about Gayle’s. Gayle's Coffee Bar - Google Reviews
Why we need your help now
Building this has not been easy.
The financial pressure of operating an independent, community-focused café has become increasingly difficult to absorb. Rising operating costs, staffing costs, rent and service charges have brought Share The Cost Global to a critical point.
Without intervention now, there is a genuine risk that we could lose Gayle’s Coffee Bar & Community Hub.
We are not sharing that lightly.
And we are not asking our community simply to pay bills so that nothing changes.
We are asking for the opportunity to stabilise, strengthen and build a sustainable future for what already exists here, including the safe space, advocacy, Pay-It-Forward support, youth development and pathways towards greater financial independence that Gayle’s helps make possible.
Why we are raising £50,000
Our £50,000 target will allow us to address immediate staff and premises commitments, strengthen working capital and invest in the management capacity Gayle’s needs to stabilise, improve commercial performance and move forward sustainably.
Funding will support staff wages and premises costs; essential food, drink and operating stock, including Pay-It-Forward provision; essential operating costs; much-needed external signage; working capital; and dedicated Café Operations & Social Impact management capacity.
This matters for Financial Wellbeing because the campaign is not simply protecting a building or paying bills. It is protecting the infrastructure through which Share The Cost Global reaches people experiencing financial hardship, provides dignified food support, offers advocacy and information, connects residents to specialist services, creates workplace and employment pathways, and provides a safe space where people can ask for help before problems escalate.
This funding is intended to create a turning point, not a dependency. Gayle’s is already trading and generating income; the challenge is giving the business enough stability and management capacity to improve its commercial performance rather than continually operating under immediate financial pressure. By addressing current commitments, strengthening working capital and putting dedicated management around staffing, stock, waste, margins, sales and growth, we can focus on increasing earned income and building a café that is better able to sustain its own operating costs while continuing to deliver social impact.
A stable Gayle’s means we can continue reducing immediate financial pressure through Pay-It-Forward support, help people navigate issues such as debt, benefits, bills and access to services, and create pathways towards greater independence and earned income.
That management role is particularly important.
Gayle’s now needs someone focused not only on running a café, but on commercial performance, staffing, stock and waste, customer experience, youth development, social-impact data, targets and sustainable growth.
It will also strengthen our ability to track the social outcomes being created through Gayle’s, including advocacy, Pay-It-Forward support, youth development, employment pathways and Financial Wellbeing, while ensuring the café itself becomes more commercially sustainable.
We need to move from constantly responding to what is immediately in front of us to managing Gayle’s strategically.
If we reach £65,000
Our stretch target would allow us to go further.
Additional funding would extend management and staffing capacity, strengthen working capital, support more Pay-It-Forward provision, expand our community outreach and engagement, enable accessible community events and allow us to extend opening hours during the winter so Gayle’s can again maximise its use as a Warm Hub.
It would also give us greater capacity to connect more residents experiencing financial hardship with advocacy, practical support and specialist services, while strengthening the pathways that help people move towards greater confidence, stability and independence.
It would move us beyond stabilisation and give Gayle’s the capacity to strengthen community delivery while building a more resilient trading future.
What we are fighting for
If Gayle’s disappeared, our community would lose more than a coffee shop.
It would lose a safe space where somebody struggling financially can still be treated with dignity.
A place where someone can ask for help before a financial problem becomes a crisis.
A place where a young person who struggles elsewhere can discover that they are capable.
A place where a volunteer or work-placement participant can begin a journey towards employment.
A place where somebody can ask for advocacy support and be helped to reach the specialist services they need.
A place where one customer can quietly Pay It Forward for another.
A place where people can eat, work, celebrate, connect and simply belong.
Our goal is sustainability
We do not want Gayle’s to become dependent on crowdfunding.
Our longer-term goal is a financially resilient, sustainable social enterprise that earns more while continuing dignified support and pathways to independence.
We believe Gayle’s can get there.
We have built this one customer, one cup, one meal, one conversation, one young person, one opportunity and one act of kindness at a time.
And now, for the first time on this scale, we are asking our community to stand with us.
If you can donate, thank you.
If you cannot donate but can share this campaign, introduce us to somebody who can help, or simply continue supporting Gayle’s, that matters too.
Help us keep the doors open.
Help us protect what has been built.
Help us make it sustainable.
Help us continue doing things The Gayle’s Way.
Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 23rd September 2026 at 8:05pm