Top 10 Best Nonprofits in Arun

The Voluntary Sector in Arun: Small District, Substantial Impact

Arun presents a distinctive social profile. It has one of the higher proportions of older residents in West Sussex, particularly across Rustington, East Preston and Bognor Regis, alongside pockets of significant deprivation and a seasonal economy that creates insecure employment patterns. Rural isolation affects villages inland, while coastal communities face their own challenges around housing, transport and access to services.

Into that landscape steps a remarkably active voluntary sector. Charities and community organisations in the district provide befriending for isolated older people, youth provision, mental health support, food aid, environmental conservation, disability services and coastal safety. Many operate with modest budgets and rely heavily on volunteers, yet they consistently reach people that statutory services struggle to engage.

The Top 10 Nonprofits in Arun

1. Arun Community Support Trust

A broad based local charity providing advice, advocacy and practical assistance to residents facing financial hardship, housing insecurity or benefit difficulties. Arun Community Support Trust is valued for its patient casework approach, walking alongside people through complex situations rather than offering a single appointment and a leaflet.

2. Littlehampton Youth Foundation

Focused on young people aged eleven to nineteen, this organisation runs open access youth sessions, detached outreach, skills programmes and mentoring. Its strength lies in consistency, maintaining trusted relationships with young people over years, which allows early identification of difficulties and effective referral to specialist support.

3. Bognor Regis Foodbank and Community Kitchen

Providing emergency food parcels alongside a community kitchen offering hot meals and cooking sessions, this charity addresses immediate need while working on longer term food security. Signposting to debt advice and employment support is integrated into every visit, treating food aid as an entry point rather than an endpoint.

4. Arun Befriending and Older People's Network

Loneliness is one of the district's most pressing social issues, and this organisation tackles it directly through telephone befriending, home visits, community lunches, transport schemes and social groups. Volunteers receive structured training, and the service maintains careful safeguarding standards for vulnerable participants.

5. Sussex Coastal Conservation Group

Working across dunes, shingle habitats, river margins and downland fringe, this environmental charity delivers habitat restoration, beach cleaning, invasive species management and citizen science recording. It also runs education programmes with local schools, building genuine environmental literacy among young residents.

6. Arundel Heritage and Community Association

Combining heritage preservation with community activity, this association maintains local historical records, runs guided walks and talks, supports conservation of historic fabric and organises events that bring residents and visitors together. Its archive work provides a valuable resource for researchers and schools alike.

7. Rustington Mental Health Support Alliance

Offering peer support groups, counselling access, wellbeing courses and crisis signposting, this charity fills gaps between primary care and specialist services. Its peer led model, where people with lived experience facilitate groups, has proven particularly effective at engaging those reluctant to approach formal services.

8. Arun Disability and Independent Living Charity

Supporting disabled residents and their families, this organisation provides equipment advice, accessible activity programmes, advocacy on housing adaptations and support navigating care assessments. Campaigning for improved accessibility in town centres and public transport forms an important part of its work.

9. Littlehampton Sea Safety and Rescue Support

Coastal communities carry particular risks, and this volunteer led organisation supports water safety education, beach patrol coordination and fundraising for rescue equipment. Its schools programme on tidal awareness, rip currents and cold water shock has genuine preventative value along a busy holiday coastline.

10. Arun Family and Early Years Charity

Working with parents and carers of young children, this charity delivers parenting groups, stay and play sessions, perinatal mental health support and school readiness activities. Early intervention is its guiding principle, offering support before difficulties escalate into crises requiring statutory involvement.

Trends Affecting Nonprofits in the District

Demand has risen sharply across almost every service area, driven by cost of living pressures, housing costs and waiting times for statutory support. At the same time, funding has become more competitive and more restricted, with fewer unrestricted grants available to cover core costs such as premises, insurance and coordination staff.

Collaboration has emerged as the sector's most effective response. Arun organisations increasingly refer between one another, share premises and volunteers, and submit joint funding applications that present a coherent pathway rather than a single intervention. Consortium approaches have improved both success rates and service coherence.

Volunteer patterns have shifted too. Long term weekly commitments are harder to secure, while episodic and skills based volunteering has grown. Successful organisations have redesigned roles into shorter, clearly defined tasks, and have invested in digital tools for scheduling, training and impact recording. Measurement itself has become more sophisticated, with funders expecting outcome evidence rather than activity counts.

How to Support Local Charities Effectively

Regular giving is disproportionately valuable because it allows organisations to plan and to fund core costs that project grants exclude. Volunteering time is equally important, particularly professional skills such as bookkeeping, governance, communications, legal advice and IT support, which small charities cannot afford to buy.

Trustee recruitment deserves special mention. Effective governance underpins everything a charity achieves, and boards across the district regularly seek people with finance, safeguarding, HR or sector specific experience. For businesses, meaningful partnership usually beats one off donation, whether through pro bono work, payroll giving, venue provision or employee volunteering days.

Conclusion

The nonprofits serving Arun cover an impressive breadth of need, from food aid, youth work and mental health to conservation, disability support, coastal safety and early years provision. What unites them is proximity to the communities they serve and an ability to respond flexibly where larger systems cannot. Supporting them, through time, money, skills or governance, is one of the most direct ways to strengthen life across the district.