Challenges increasing for community foundations post pandemic
Melanie May | 9 July 2021 | News
All community foundations across the UK are experiencing increasing levels of need, with a growing need for services related to mental health, food & essentials, social isolation, domestic violence, and technology & IT, according to a new report.
The UK Community Foundations (UKCF) report analyses communities’ changing needs, and provides steps for funders to help them support them as the country comes out of lockdown.
Since the start of the pandemic, community foundations have awarded 13,244 monetary grants through the National Emergencies Trust Coronavirus Appeal to local Voluntary and Community Sector Organisations (VCSOs) working to support the people and communities most impacted.
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However, with the flow of emergency funding to the sector now slowing, levels of hardship are rising, which, the report says, increases the need for funders who can support these VCSOs, so that they can continue this work.
For the report Investing, Inspiring and Including: How community foundations are helping the recovery from the pandemic UKCF asked its network community foundations to complete a survey, to help them to understand the challenges that local VCSOs now face, and how funders can best support them.
74% of the community foundations surveyed said that local VSCOs had been well provisioned with emergency funding to deal with the short-term impacts of the pandemic.
However, 100% of those surveyed also said that they are experiencing increasing levels of need for the services that local VSCOs provide in their respective localities – suggesting that the effects of the pandemic are far from over.
The survey also revealed that 74% of community foundations are expecting charitable organisations in their area to close due to financial pressures and 46% have already seen closures – suggesting that people will be unable to access the services that local VSCOs provide. Ultimately, says UKCF, this could lead to increased pressure on statutory service providers and the wider public sector in the long term.
UKCF also asked community foundations across the country what funders could do to help. Responses highlighted five key areas:
- Support what has been proven to work – funders can facilitate the continuity of tried and tested methods rather than focusing VSCO’s to reimagine services to access project funding.
- Provide core funding – offering running costs to support an organisation was the most frequently cited action that funders could take to support the sector.
- Flexibility – taking a flexible, empathetic, and understanding approach to grant-making can help to ensure that a funder’s systems and processes are not barriers to local VCSOs.
- Collaboration – funders need to be doing more to encourage collaboration between local VSCOs.
- Multi-year funding – respondents frequently cited the need for more multi-year funding, which would give organisations the financial stability to improve their capacity and delivery.
Rosemary Macdonald, CEO of UK Community Foundations, said:
“Over a year on, the magnitude of what has been achieved by our funders, community foundations and the organisations we support, cannot be overstated. However, as things begin to return to “normal” we must recognise that levels of need are rising.
“The community foundation model is ‘place-based’, meaning that grants are distributed differently depending on the specific needs of the locality in which the funder is based. It’s success as a model is contingent on longevity, relationship building, and being able to leverage local philanthropy to address local problems.
“To support people and places facing hardship, funders must embrace a place-based approach to ensure that good-grant making practice continues – which is why we encourage them to listen to the community foundations we have surveyed, and to consider the five steps outlined in our new report.”
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.