New charity resilience fund to distribute £20m
20 October 2020
The Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) has launched a new £20 million fund to help charitable organisations in England that support those hardest hit by Covid-19.
The CAF Resilience Fund will distribute grants ranging from £10k to £100k to deliver rapid relief from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Both registered and unregistered small and mid-sized charitable organisations, including community interest companies and social enterprises can apply and the grants are flexible, meaning organisations can spend them on core costs such as rent and utilities.
The causes and communities the fund aims to help include people living in poverty, Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities, children and young people, the unemployed, the homeless, people with physical or learning disabilities and those pushed into crisis because of Covid-19.
The funding for the CAF Resilience Fund is provided by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Community Match Challenge funding scheme, part of the Government’s £750m coronavirus support package for charities. The Community Match Challenge matched funding provided by the Covid-19 Support Fund created by the insurance and long-term savings industry.
Monica Brown, Head of Charity Advisory at CAF, said:
“This fund represents an opportunity for CAF to help get desperately needed funds to the charities that have been at the very heart of the response to this pandemic, the ones that have been there for those most in need.
“This money will be spent to help the areas of the country where the need is greatest, including communities that have struggled to access earlier funding, those that face cultural barriers and those that have lacked a voice through these long, difficult months.
“Be they charities or other organisations helping the homeless, those serving Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities, assisting the elderly facing isolation or providing urgent shelter to those fleeing abuse, this CAF Resilience Fund will provide a lifeline to as many organisations as possible.”
Charities applying must deliver their services in England and be able to spend the grant money before 31 March 2021.