CAF Coronavirus Emergency relief funds first 500 organisations
27 May 2020
The Charities Aid Foundation’s Coronavirus Emergency Fund has paid grants to over 500 charitable organisations across the UK, totalling more than £2.3 million.
In addition to an initial £5 million made available by CAF, contributions from private individuals, trusts and businesses have added another £1 million to the fund.
The first 500 charitable organisations to receive grants of up to £10,000 include a wide range of causes, with the prevention of poverty being the single largest cause area to be granted money to help them cope with the effects of the pandemic, followed by health-related causes and charities helping children and young people.
The fund opened in late March and applications were paused on April 5th after more than 5,000 applications were received in just one week, requesting a combined total of over £40 million.
Monica Brown, CAF’s Head of Charity Advisory and Programmes, said:
“We now managed to get funds to 500 charities and have heard from members of the public, CAF clients and businesses of their desire to help CAF get this emergency money to the charities battling through these times.
“It is our plan to continue to grow this fund so that we will be in a position to help more small organisations to continue to deliver vital services in the weeks and months ahead.”
The CAF Coronavirus Emergency Fund is a way for people and businesses to securely get help to small charitable organisations to cover core costs, be they staffing, volunteer costs such as paying for petrol for deliveries to those self-isolating or equipment such as SIM cards for volunteers who are keeping in touch with vulnerable people over the phone.
The Fusion21 Foundation gave £100,000 to the CAF Coronavirus Emergency Fund in an effort to channel support for small charities in need down to a community level quickly and effectively.
CAF polling of charities in late April found that 7 in 10 (69%) had already made at least one change in response to the crisis and 4 in 10 had found an alternative or innovative way to deliver services to the people who need them.
Inn Churches in Bradford received a CAF emergency grant. The charity was forced to close its café and winter shelter when the lockdown began, but has shifted its resources to team up with other community groups, supermarkets and the local council to use its hub facilities to increase food production and distribution to the most needy in the local area.
Find out more about the CAF Coronavirus Emergency Fund.