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Category: Charity

Guidance for charities during Coronavirus outbreak

 

Wednesday evening saw Chancellor Rishi Sunak announcing £750m of funding for the charity sector across the UK.  However, when charities such as St John’s Ambulance announced that they are losing £1.5m a week from its training and events business alone, it is quite evident to see that this will not fill the funding gap left by the implications of the outbreak.

Many charities are reliant on our kind and generous donations, and although charities are included in the Government’s Job Retention Scheme, known as furlough, there are still some costs that the charity will need to fund out of its own reserves meant for good causes if income reduces.  Charities unable to promote their activities will have a short and longer term impact on their activities, and so the guidance from the Charity Commission may be a relief to some.

Certain charities, such as Gloucestershire Community Foundation (GCF) @CFGlos, are continuing to provide support for those in need in the county, and for these activities to reduce or stop coming from other fantastic causes would be a massive loss to society.  GCF have set up the Gloucestershire Coronavirus Emergency Support Fund, with an aim to support local activities that are helping communities by the outbreak.  The fund will offer local charitable and community organisations emergency funding to support emerging challenges faced within local communities as a result of the continuing threat of Coronavirus.

For those charities that are looking for help, the Charity Commission has released guidance to the charity sector about helping to run your charity during the COVID-19 outbreak which can be found on this link.

Whether it be sharing the activities of charities on social media, offering any time available to help charities or donating anything available to good causes, speaking from the perspective of a firm where we are Trustees and Governors of not-for-profit organisations, we know that any help provided would go a long way to ensure we all come out of this pandemic as strong as possible.

Chris Baldwin is Audit & Assurance Manager and looks after our charity clients – if you have any questions or concerns please contact him on chris.baldwin@randall-payne.co.uk or call 01242 776000 and we will arrange a call back.