Giving4Living : Urgent Appeal

There are 4.3 million children in the UK growing up in families without enough money to make ends meet. 

[Action For Children]

Throughout the year many families struggle to find the funds to pay for the most basic need: feeding their children during school holiday periods when subsidised school meals are unavailable.  The extra money for items such as uniforms or new shoes for when school returns only add to this burden.

What can you do about this?

This project is a collaboration with the ethical lender Fair for You, the Fair Credit Charity, Crowdfunder and Iceland’s Food Club, together aiming to help get money quickly to the most financially vulnerable in society to support them through this critical moment in the cost of living crisis.

We have a simple ask - can you help support vulnerable families by donating toward the cost of a £30 food shop?

For those on low incomes, finding the money for essential food items is often a route to high-interest debt, and loan sharks. In a unique first we are allowing donors to help fund essential food items through Fair for You and Iceland’s Food Club.

Whilst we welcome the new government and their commitment to change the UK toward a better society, we believe there is more that they can do. 

We aim to raise at least £10,000  to help 1,000 families in local communities across the UK, with a view to rolling this out on a larger scale if successful.

We also believe that the solution to this enormous and astonishing problem cannot be solved, financially or otherwise, by governments alone. It will take a combination of government, responsible retailers and corporations, trusts/foundations/charities brought together by the the public (the crowd).  

This is why your donation is not only about the money but also a clear message to all of those organisations, that we, society, care about these inequalities in our society and want to see it as the highest priority on all of their agendas. 

The Big Issue recently reported comments by the Fair Credit Charity CEO, Simon Dukes….

“While the sub-prime lending sector has contracted in recent years there are still exploitative lenders who cause misery with their disingenuous, inflexible practices – harming households’ finances, causing stress and anxiety, and setting them up for future difficulties by ruining their credit scores. We are disappointed to see that the main parties’ manifestos do not commit to tackling the issue.

“However, it is important that any attempts to curb those practices does not simply drive even more people towards illegal lenders. This is why it is vital that government encourages more investment into ethical lenders such as Fair for You, which is owned outright by the Fair Credit Charity. This investment is already being made by organisations like Fair4All Finance, but there needs to be more of it.

Your Donation and Our Target

We aim to raise at least £10,000  to help 1,000 families in local communities across the UK, with a view to rolling this out on a larger scale if successful. 

Crowdfunder will not charge any fees on donations and our other partners and match-funders are covering all interest fees and administration costs.  That means 100% of your donation will go to helping the individual end recipients.

As this project is run by the Fair Credit Charity (reg.1161809 in England & Wales and reg. SC046556 in Scotland), we will be able to claim Gift Aid on your donation, adding a further 20% to the project, please add this if you can

Each £30 donation will be credited as a gift to families having taken out a 0% APR loan using pre-loaded Iceland Food Club cards operated by Fair For You, with no need for them to pay back this donation.

This is no small problem, and we would also urge you to consider making a regular monthly donation to our charity. You can also do that here and we will give you  a regular update of how your money is changing people’s lives in your community.

More about behind the project

Iceland’s Food Club scheme is a lending initiative that aims to provide financially vulnerable customers with interest-free micro loans towards their food shop.

The supermarket says people need these loans to help them bridge the gaps in their income during school holidays.

It is run in conjunction with Fair For You, a charity-owned ethical lender that aims to support households that have been “financially-excluded” with the purchase of key necessities.

These people may be unable to secure other loans because of a poor credit rating.

Iceland Food Club allows all consumers to receive loans of between £25 and £100 that can be used towards buying groceries at Iceland during the school holidays.

This money is held on a pre-loaded Mastercard operated by Fair For You. All funds raised through this project will be gifted to families with no requirement to repay.

Where does my donation go?

Each £30 donation will be credited as a gift to families using pre-loaded cards operated by Fair For You, with no need for them to pay back this donation.

As Crowdfunder will not charge any fees on donations and our other partners and match-funders are covering all interest fees and administration costs.  That means 100% of your donation will go to helping the individual end recipients.

About Fair For You

Fair For You helps the most financially vulnerable in society to buy essential items for their homes such as large and small appliances, furniture, soft furnishings, clothing and shoes, electronics and computing through innovative, tailored and flexible lending solutions. Fair For You is available nationally.

Fair For You is a Community Interest Company wholly owned by a charity, the Fair Credit Charity.

Fair For You is a CDFI (Community Development Financial Institution)

Still not convinced? Just read this...

How big is the issue?

• 17.5m people in the UK are in ‘financially vulnerable circumstances’.
• Over 20 million adults are currently under-served by high street lenders. 
• 14.6m UK adults are not coping financially or finding it difficult to cope.
• 4.3 million children in the UK are growing up in families without enough money to make ends meet. [ActionForChildren]
• A survey of 500 individuals struggling to afford everyday hygiene items revealed that a staggering 83% have had to cut back on daily essentials to provide for their children during school holidays. [This research was commissioned by Unilever and The Hygiene Bank]
• 1 in 6 people in the UK has no savings. That’s 9 million people.

Many families across the UK view credit as an urgent lifeline. Getting credit at all, let alone fair credit, is near impossible for many such families. And that's before the need for emergency cash in a crisis.

Your donation provides extra funding, beyond the loan, which gives those in need an unexpected bonus in place of those savings, for those rainy day moments, we all know come along.