A message for our grantees and applicants - updated 27.3.20
The Community Foundation recognises that the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak is a major event and that many small, local charities and community groups are worried about its impact on their work and communities. We want in this note to reassure you that we will do everything we can to continue supporting the sector at this time.
- First, there’s lots of good advice out there, including from NCVO and Connected Voice, which we encourage you to look at.
- Second, we are continuing with business as usual at the Community Foundation. We've cancelled or postponed events and meetings, and our office is closed. Staff are now working from home. All this might slow us down a bit, but we expect to stay open for grant applications. We ask that if you need to get in touch you email us using general@communityfoundation.org.uk - that will help us deal with queries efficiently. If the matter is really urgent, you can still call in normal office hours.
- Third, we know many of you are supporting some of the most vulnerable people but will yourselves be under extra pressure and uncertainty. So, we’re going to be as flexible as we can be about grants you already have. We know you may have to adapt your activities and that’s fine – just let us know when you can. If you think you’re going to need to extend the timetable for activity we’ve funded, or you need more time to report to us, again, let us know.
- Lastly, although we hope this won’t happen, if we do find ourselves having to reduce our work further, we might have to close to new applications for a short period. If that happens, we’ll try to give as much notice as we can.
Last updated: 27 March 2020
Coronavirus Response and Recovery Fund
We've launched the Coronavirus Response and Recovery Fund for Tyne & Wear and Northumberland to help small charities and community organisations help vulnerable people most affected by social isolation and risk of illness. The Fund will also help charitable groups whose work and income is impacted to get back on their feet when the outbreak eases. We are inviting the public, business and other funders to join with us in growing the fund so we can support more vital groups in this difficult period.
Click here to find out more about the fund
To give via our JustGiving page, click here.
We are also expecting to be a distributor for the National Emergency Trust appeal money - information about that is also on the fund page above.