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There’s no denying that the coronavirus pandemic will have thrown many charity’s operational and financial plans into disarray, and possibly on a number of fronts simultaneously. This comes at a time when there is greater demand on charities as the nation deals with the fall out of the pandemic.

 

Lifelines

There are a number of lifelines that charities can turn to for support in the short term. The government has a number of schemes to help all businesses and charities, from the 
Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme; and the 
Financial support for businesses during coronavirus
The Charity Commission has also posted a useful guidance to Manage financial difficulties in your charity caused by coronavirus.

A recent poll by the Charity Finance Group indicated that 90% of charities have or are seeking to furlough staff but the vast majority will not be seeking financial support in the short term.

 

Direct Support 

For charities who have been seriously affected by the pandemic the government has also announced a £750m aid package, mainly focused at frontline organisations with £200m allocated to hospices. This money is separate from the £300m in funding brought forward by the National Lottery Community Fund in late March. The government has also pledged to match donations to the Big Night In, the BBC fundraising event broadcasted on 23 April 2020, starting with least £20m to the National Emergency Trust. 

 

Grants Are Available

Charities are certainly facing very difficult times with many organisations entirely shuttered for “lockdown” and yet also massive calls being made on their cash reserves to keep things (and employees) afloat. Many grant making organisations are filling some of the void by stepping up their financial support to those less fortunate. There are some excellent on-line resources that are available for charities to signpost to these grants, such as Charity Excellence.

 

Time to Act

We are all having to adapt, and allowances should of course be made, particularly for those affected by ill-health. This will be hugely worrying time for your charities, faced with uncertain employment issues, funding pressures and liquidity, pressure on reporting and disclosure in annual reports, uncertainty over tax and pensions, an increase in fraud and decrease in reserves as investments have declined. 

These are just a small sample of the concerns we’ve been addressing in recent weeks and although we are wishing this crisis were over as much as everyone else, we have relished the chance to help our users solve problems they have often thought were intractable. 
 
Many of the professional advisors on our website are able to offer advice spanning legal, insurance, accounting, investments and cash flow management; they can also offer many types of holistic advice that charities will find of use. In these troubled times, a one-stop-shop for advice is what many charities are looking for and we’ve been really pleased to put them in touch with leading firms who can offer specialist support.

Help is on Hand

 
Charity management is about far more than making grants and managing resources. Having a good professional advisor in your corner really is invaluable in times like these. Whatever your hopes and worries are, we are here to help, so do please get in touch to find the advice many of you so sorely need. Now is the time to rebuild confidence and take back control with a solid action plan.
 
At such times, a one-stop-shop becomes really appealing. You can access multi-disciplinary expertise and we encourage you to try our 3-minute matching tool to build your dashboard and find which of the providers are best suited to you.

From our analysis, charities are stepping up to the demand and showing resilience by spending more and giving vital support where it is needed most. 

We wish you well and good luck in the coming months.
 
Guy