We are so proud of our partner organisations, many of whom are on the frontline of providing support to those who have been worst affected by the coronavirus outbreak. Across the UK and beyond our grantees are working day and night to support vulnerable young people and adults, carers, elderly people in care homes, children with disabilities and their families, young people with autism and countless others. Other partners are providing online education resources to support teachers and young people affected by school closures. And our youth social action partners are working hard to keep young people busy and get them volunteering, especially across the NHS.
Following our Trustees’ statement on the extra funds they are committing to respond to the Covid-19 crisis, we have allocated over £1.3m of support since the beginning of April. Our approach is based around partnerships and we are putting our trust in our partner organisations by providing core funding with minimal reporting requirements.
In the medium and long term we will be there to help our partners reflect, recover and rebuild. This first round of funding, however, addresses more immediate priorities through a mixture of core funding grants and contributions to coronavirus emergency appeals by our existing partners. As the situation changes we will respond accordingly but in the short term we have focused on supporting our partners who are providing helplines for vulnerable people and facing both increased demand and huge logistical challenges.
In addition to the grants below, we have moved all our processes online to enable us to make and pay grants quickly and we are:
- working with our partners to ensure continuity of our funding and being as flexible as we can around reporting requirements and outcomes
- supporting infrastructure organisations including ACEVO, the Association of Chairs, NCVO, the Cranfield Trust and IVAR which provide information and support to, and advocate for, the voluntary sector
- signed up to the London Funders statement on flexibility and responsiveness.
- sharing data by publishing details of our funding via the 360Giving Coronavirus Response Tracker
Core capacity grants:
£500,000 to the British Red Cross which is providing support across the UK, including a coronavirus helpline.
£50,000 each to:
Carers UK, which provides a telephone and email helpline for carers
Contact, which provides a helpline for families with disabled children
The Mix, which provides direct support for young people across a number of different platforms
National Autistic Society, towards their helpline and online support for autistic people and their families
The Samaritans, which provides email and telephone support
Young Minds, which provides messenger support for young people in crisis and a telephone helpline for parents
Quaker Social Action, which provides a funeral costs helpline
Emergency Appeals:
Aegis Trust: preventing genocide, crimes against humanity and mass atrocities
Ambitious about Autism: supporting autistic young people and their families
Future First: online mentoring for young people affected by school closures
Institute for Voluntary Action Research: providing support and a safe space to talk for voluntary sector leaders
Jewish Homes Emergency Appeal: organisations providing elderly care in the Jewish community
School-Home Support: giving vulnerable children access to online learning
StreetGames: local projects supporting vulnerable young people and their families