Zurich Community Trust announces £2m Covid-19 support package
Melanie May | 6 May 2020 | News
Zurich Community Trust, Zurich’s UK charitable arm, has announced a £2m support package for charities tackling the Covid-19 crisis.
The funds will be used to support Zurich Community Trust’s (ZCT) existing national and local charity partnerships, which are chosen by Zurich’s 4,500 UK employees and represent a cross section of the sector.
A substantial portion of the overall fund has been allocated to supporting existing local partnerships with smaller community and voluntary groups, and also to previous partners where ZCT still has an active relationship. Grants are already being made with ZCT planning to make funds available throughout the year.
Donations so far have included increasing ZCT’s funding this year to existing partner Dementia UK to £150,000, with £75,000 going to fund additional nurses on its helpline over the next 12-week period. It has also donated £75,000 to Alzheimer’s Society as part of the ‘Insurance United Against Dementia’ campaign, while an additional initial £25,000 has been awarded to the Wiltshire Community Foundation for the Wiltshire and Swindon Coronavirus Response fund to help the wider community and voluntary sector given Zurich’s presence and history in Swindon and surrounding areas.
£134,000 has also been given to 15 local partner organisations in Birmingham, Cardiff, Croydon, Fareham, Farnborough, Leeds, London, Manchester and Swindon. Projects include The Soup Kitchen in central London, which is experiencing unprecedented demand with four nearby soup kitchens having closed down.
Zurich is also contacting all partner charities to see how its employees can support them with skills-based assistance. A drop-in digital marketing surgery via webex will be one of the first events to be hosted by Zurich’s marketing team, in response to requests from charities. This will be followed by an external PR workshop looking at how these organisations can share stories about the services they provide. Zurich’s UK Staff are also being encouraged to use their three allocated volunteering days as an opportunity to support people and communities affected by the Covid-19 crisis.
In addition, Zurich has launched a fundraising appeal among its employees to make donations to the National Emergencies Trust to help UK charities over the coming months.
Steve Grimmett, Head of Zurich Community Trust said:
“We are aware of the huge impact Covid-19 is already having on charities. We’ve all seen how fundraising is being hit hard already at a time when demand for charities’ services are increasing along with the costs incurred to deliver these.
“In response, we are focusing our funding towards charities we have existing relationships with who are working to support individuals and communities hit hardest. We are working in partnership and will be here to support organisations over the coming weeks and months. At the same time, we’re looking at ways to deploy the support of our employees who are keen to share valuable skills and expertise with those working on the front line.”
Alexander Brown, Director, The Soup Kitchen added:
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“As a small charity, there was so much uncertainty surround Covid-19, what our response would be and how we would manage during a time when we anticipated losing the majority of our funding. One of the very first calls we had was from the Zurich Community Trust. The emergency funding that the Trust provided has helped us continue to feed nearly 150 homeless and vulnerable people each day in London.”
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About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.