Keep KindHaus Going This Winter

Ann-Marie Kinlock is organizing this fundraiser.

Donation protected

Hi, I'm Ann-Marie the founder of KindHaus and we are raising funds to keep KindHaus open for families this Winter.

We started KindHaus because we really wanted a home away from home. A place we could pop in any time of day. A place where children were truly welcome. A place where we could connect with a warm community of people and share the highs and lows of modern day parent-life.

We had a lot of difficulty finding a permanent home in Hackney but we managed to find space for KindHaus in a lovely Popup space on Stoke Newington High Street. We've been here for 6 months but unfortunately the Popup licence expires on Monday 13th November and can't be extended. We are raising funds to secure a rolling lease and to help cover the rent for the next 5 months.

First, the good stuff

We’ve had an overwhelming amount of support since opening doors in May and we are incredibly proud of the community that has formed around the space in Stoke Newington. We love seeing the familiar faces, watching the little ones hit their milestones, and meeting new parents who hear about us via friends and family. A huge, huge thank you to everyone who’s been spreading the word! Our core mission has always been to create a space that welcomes and supports parents. The early years can be tough and we’re thrilled to be able to affordably offer our play cafe as a "home away from home", and our Cowork & Creche service to help those tackling the work/life juggle. There are so many wins to share and on top of that next week we'll be 6 months old - wow! It's literally been us placing one foot in front of the other everyday, come rain or shine, jumping over rocks and holding on to our vision tightly. It's been brilliant.

Challenge #1

So, we find ourselves at a bit of a crossroads here at KindHaus. We’ve been informed that our Popup license expires shortly and the only next step is a 10 year lease. As much as we’d love for KindHaus to run for another decade and beyond, 10 years feels a bit much. As scary as it was we said, “No, thank you”, and thankfully that wasn’t the end of the conversation. We’ve been offered a Lease at Will which in short means, as long as the Landlord and I agree to continue we can stay here for another few months under those terms. Relief.

Challenge #2

The Rent. We’re a young business, word is spreading and we are inching toward profitability but we are just not there yet. As many of our early supporters may know, we received funding from Virgin Startup to get KindHaus up and running in May. Those funds went straight on the rent to give us the runway to focus on the operations. Those funds have now run out. Even if we charged £5 at the door, as some have recommended, we have crunched the numbers and at this early stage in the business, we would still land here.

What we need to do

We now need to raise another £25,000 to keep KindHaus going this Winter and stay at Stokey Popup for at least another 5 months. We’ve approached organisations that seemed like they'd support our mission to support parents in the early years but have been declined due to KindHaus not being a charity or a CIC...It's 2023...Far from Okay. Also, as discussed with many of you in person, we are in discussions with an investor (wow!?) who believes in our vision however that process takes time and it could be many months before any funds are issued.

Our cross roads

Route A - Close KindHaus next week on the 13th November for the Winter months, and reopen in the Spring when we expect to get funding.

Route B - Raise enough contributions to cover the rent through the Winter months and keep KindHaus going until we get funding.

Pretty stark, we know...

We're all in for Route B

Why? Everyone agrees - November would be an awful time to close KindHaus. We believe it’s essential to stay open during the cold, dark winter months and ensure parents in Stokey, Hackney and beyond have somewhere warm and welcoming to be. For those of you in need of a few hours of childcare in the week to get on top of work and life admin, it’s again essential.

Can you support?

1. Please contribute to this Go Fund Me campaign

We’ve decided to launch a Go Fund Me campaign to help cover the rent over the Winter. Our Kickstarter application was going to take 8 days to be reviewed and published which would take too long. We needed to move quickly. All contributors will get their name displayed proudly on the wall of the cafe. We want everyone to see who kept KindHaus going.

Contributions of £50+ will receive complimentary barista-made drinks - 1 each day.
Contributions of £100+ will receive one complimentary creche session per week.
Contributions of £500+ will receive the coffee, the creche, plus a private event at KindHaus of your choice - you choose the theme and the date.

2. Please spread the word

Help us reach as many potential supporters as possible. We know it’s a financially tricky time for everyone. If you or anyone you know feels they can support our mission with ideas, contacts or contributions to help us stay open for local families in these challenging months, we would be hugely grateful.

Here's a link to our flyer

Thank you!

Thank you again for all of your support thus far. We know it’s a difficult ask. Our heartfelt mission has always been to make parent-life easier. We can but try. We are all ears and keen to do whatever we need to keep the doors open this Winter.

We’ll be in touch again soon with updates. As always, feel free to drop up a line if you have questions, ideas or contacts! We look forward to hearing from you soon and seeing you at the space.

Wishing you much kindness,

Ann-Marie, Lory, Tarah, Mey, and Ned (the Horse) x

About Kindhaus

KindHaus provides Cowork & Creche, Stay & Play, Events and Birthday Parties for families at 147 Stoke Newington High Street, N16 0NY, London. Visit our website to find out more https://www.kindhaus.co.uk/ or contact us [email redacted].uk.

In one of our customers own words;