Majority of grassroots organisations feeling financial impact of cost-of-living crisis
Melanie May | 10 May 2023 | News
The majority of grassroots charities and causes are impacted by the cost-of-living crisis and expect to raise even less money in the future, according to a report from giving platform easyfundraising.
Easyfundraising’s survey of grassroots charitable organisations received 1,658 responses, most of which were from very small hyper-local causes and charities with a turnover of less than £5,000 per year.
The vast majority of respondents said they have seen their income fall – with 63% reporting that the cost-of-living crisis has had a severe or moderate impact on their fundraising income. 59% are also predicting that their income will go down in the future.
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Tina Costello, Chief Executive of Heart of England Community Foundation, commented:
“As the CEO of a charity who offers grants to the voluntary and community sector, the easyfundraising report reinforces the conversations we’re having with organisations. We know times are challenging everyone but the charitable sector relies on public generosity and grant funding to not only thrive but to survive. My personal frustration is when I hear people saying that ‘they need to be sustainable’. How can a charity, often relying on donations and grants, be sustainable when they want to offer an accessible, affordable service to their beneficiaries whilst balancing their ongoing running costs?”
This year easyfundraising has seen the number of causes signed up to its platform increase by 35% and the number of people giving via the platform increase by 49%.
Commenting on the survey findings, its CEO James Moir said:
“People still want to give to the causes that they care about, but household budgets are stretched and often something has to give.
“I think in the past charities saw giving platforms like us as just a small part of what they do, but all our data from sign-ups show that’s starting to change quite dramatically.”
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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.