Challenges for charities

ended 13. June 2022

We're keen to know what the main challenges are for charities right now, and whether the Government needs to step in to provide additional support. Please answer any or all of the questions below. We'll be issuing your responses to the local, trade and national media on Wednesday.

  • Do you think the current level of inflation has the potential to be a bigger crisis for charities than the pandemic?
  • What are the main challenges you're facing right now as a charity?
  • Have you noticed a drop-off in donations since energy bills were increased?
  • Have you had people cancel direct debits? If so, to what extent?
  • Should the Government step in to provide support for charities?
  • Overall, how confident do you feel as a charity right now compared to a year ago?

Any other thoughts, jot them down. As Premium users, your responses will be edited by an experienced news journalist.

4 responses from the Newspage community

Legend
Rachel Hayward
MD at Ask the Chameleon Ltd
As the Chair of a small local based charitable trust - Annabel's Angels - we have struggled to survive during Covid and I am concerned our future still looks bleak. We are volunteer-led and rely on public donations to provide a small amount of financial aid to people undergoing treatment for cancer. Without public events, we can not raise funds, turning to applying to other bodies to help us support local families. We saw a doubling of requests for help last year (540 to date) and whilst events are slowly emerging, the public is finding it hard to donate as their own costs are rising, yet the demand facing charities like us is also increasing rapidly (89.5% increase in 2021). Without the intervention of external bodies and the Government to provide much needed funds, I fear our boat is at risk - our stormy seas have not abated, and the horizon even darker.
Premium
Maria Hanson MBE
Founder/CEO at me&dee charity
Personally not entirely. We are a self funding charity and totally reliant on events and fundraising activities which were unable to take part during the pandemic. We also provide holidays to families facing short futures together and were unable to do so. Our challenges as a small charity are the heavily promoted food shortages, food banks, support for families on the poverty line and the Ukraine where our local supporters have switched to. We have lost 5 of our monthly supporters. This is our only set income, and therefor a concern. Controversial I realise but where do we stop in stretching what the government can do. Two years of furlough, supporting payments and so much more. As a charity we have to take responsibility to be imaginative and engage in new ways to fundraise and remain solvent. For us it is a negative in that the government did donate millions of pounds to local authorities to distribute to charities - the fact we do not offer food banks or the right support - though our support is to families facing short futures, this wasn't the right hardship for us to qualify to receive that support to be passed on. Our number of applications have doubled and we do not have double the resources.
Premium
Faye Jones
Fundraising Manager at Happy Landings Animal Rescue
Since the increased price cap for energy in April, the number of donations we’ve received online has more than halved, and with the price cap set to rise further, things are looking exceptionally bleak. We’ve had a handful of people cancel their direct debits in the past month. Our supporters are worried about the state of their finances in the coming year due to higher inflation and rising interest rates, and are reluctant to sign up to any new financial commitments. It's not surprising and I'm not sure the latest support package will give people the confidence to start donating again. One-off payments are of course a help, but they don't provide people with much financial security. The government needs to address the extenuating circumstances in which charities are operating; they have barely had time to recover from the pandemic, before being hit by record levels of inflation. People and communities throughout the UK rely on the critical support and services that charities provide, many of which are not provided by the Government. If Government does not do more to ensure the longevity of the charitable sector and recognise the immense value that charities bring to peoples lives, it is ultimately the people in our communities who will suffer when these key services fall away.
Premium
Amber Fisher MCIoF Cert
Head of Local Fundraising and Engagement at Bravo Medics
At Bravo Medics, our team of critical care doctors work full time for the NHS are then working after hours to support people in Bristol, Bath, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire with treatments that can be the difference between life and death. On top of that, they are having to contribute to fuel out of their own pockets due to soaring prices at the pumps. The amount they can claim back is limited to 0.45p per mile.