Many small charities were already living hand to mouth before COVID-19 and now our worlds have been turned upside down, with increased demand for services, staff and volunteers unable to support, inadequate organisational infrastructure support that means even something like remote working is extremely difficult.
During this critical period small charities need all the help they can get.
80% of charities registered in the UK have an income of under £200,000
About the Small Charities Coalition
As the largest national umbrella body for small charities, the Small Charities Coalition, is itself a small charity. We have an annual turnover this year of under £250,000 and we have a staff team of 3.
Nationally, we have over 13,000 members, and work closely with other sector support organisations. Our work is not usually attractive to the public or government. It is not working directly with the most vulnerable in our communities, but it is helping to make sure that such organisations are safe, protected and able to deliver to you and your communities.
The Small Charities Coalition provides information, advice and advocacy to small charities. We run
- A HelpDesk currently just two days a week
- Produce a weekly and special newsletters, bulletins
- Broker relationships and partnerships between charities, and individuals & corporate partners
In December 2019, our HelpDesk answered 58 enquiries, in January this rose to 118, February 232. By mid March we have responded to over 200 requests for advice and information.
Why we need extra funding?
We need help to
- Expand our HelpDesk to support more charities
- To purchase new equipment to create webinars and learning resources for small charities
- Source where appropriate technical and legal opinions to help small charities meet some of the challenges arising from COVID-19
And finally...
With the possible threat of ongoing funding shocks, with large fundraising events like the Manchester and London marathons being cancelled, small charities are going to need to be able to diversify and look at other ways of fundraising.
Larger charities are also affected, but they may be slightly better able to weather the storm in the short term, they have teams of staff, they have reserves, our small charities are largely volunteer led and don't have reserves. If they are not supported today they may not be around tomorrow.
Don't let us lose our small charities because we couldn't help them enough...please donate what ever you can today.