Cost-of-Living Fund passes £150,000 mark

Following its launch two weeks ago, the Community Foundation’s new Cost-of-Living Fund has now raised over £150,000. Started with £100,000 from the Foundation’s unrestricted money, the fund has received an additional £50,000 through generous donations from new and existing individual and business donors.

Rob Williamson, Chief Executive at the Community Foundation said:

“We are delighted with the response to the Cost-of-Living Fund and are extremely grateful to everyone who has contributed so far. This generosity will help us support more local charities and community organisations who are struggling because of increased demand, rising costs, and the falling value of their income and reserves. Organisations who, in turn, are supporting some of the most vulnerable people and communities in our region.”

Lyn Shears OBE, a recent donor to the fund explained her reasoning for giving:

“As they emerge from the challenges of the Covid Pandemic, our amazing charities are facing another pandemic – a poverty pandemic. The impact of this on those charities, and the people they support, will be both deep and far reaching. I have chosen to support the Community Foundation’s Cost of Living Fund to help get vital funds out to the front line quickly and efficiently – enabling them to meet the inevitable increased demand for their services and fund their own spiralling costs.”

The focus of the fund will be on organisations that have received grants from the Foundation in the past two years and which are working with particularly vulnerable people and communities. They will be invited by the Foundation to apply, with priority going to smaller organisations and those facing the most immediate pressure of rising demand and costs.

You can find out more about the fund here. Anyone wanting to support the fund can contact us or give via our JustGiving page here.