Julia and Hans Rausing Trust gives £2.5m to healthcare charities tackling COVID-19
Howard Lake | 20 March 2020 | News
The Julia and Hans Rausing Trust is donating £2.5 million pounds to support efforts dealing with the fallout from COVID 19.
The gift is being given to selected charities and organisations that are dealing with the immediate healthcare needs across the UK.
The Julia and Hans Rausing Trust is a charitable fund that supports organisations and initiatives that “provide benefit to society in the UK”.
The donations include:
- £500,000 to CW+, the charity of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, money which will go towards their Rapid Response Fund, to provide equipment, technology, staff relief and volunteer recruitment for the COVID-19 pandemic.
- £500,000 to Helpforce, a charity which works with hospitals and health services to provide volunteers and enable people to volunteer in this sector.
- £725,000 to FareShare, a network of charitable food redistributors which will be providing food parcels for direct delivery to those in need across the country. FareShare aims to provide an additional 8 million meals to vulnerable people in the coming year.
Julia and Hans Rausing said: “This is an extraordinarily tough time for everyone across the country, particularly for the most vulnerable in society. There are a number of charities and organisations that are at the forefront of this pandemic, and we hope these donations can help them continue their excellent work when it has never been more needed.”
To date the Julia and Hans Rausing Trust has provided over 220 grants totalling more than £200 million. Funding is given to organisations working within three main areas:
- Health and wellbeing
- Welfare and education
- Arts and culture.
Other recipients
The other organisations receiving the funding are:
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- The Mayor of London Fund, powered by London Funders, is an emergency fund for charities and community groups dealing with the Covid 19 outbreak.
- The Big Give, the UK’s largest match funding platform. The trust has donated money to the National Emergencies Trust to distribute through community foundations across UK.
- Age UK Kensington and Chelsea provides a wide range of services including befriending, practical help, information and advice and a variety of social and leisure activities. It will provide a food hub and food parcels for the elderly who are house-bound in the coming weeks and months.
- St Mary’s Bourne Street, the church near Sloane Square, is providing emergency support for local people. The donation will also help fund a community hall project later in the year.
- Gloucestershire Community Foundation provides support to different causes and communities across Gloucestershire. The donation will go towards providing emergency funds for small, local charities.
- Cheltenham and Gloucester Hospitals Charity will use the donation to help provide relief packages for staff and volunteers and emergency funds for rapid response to arising challenges.
- Age UK Gloucestershire will provide a dedicated support line and friendship projects for isolated elderly people.
- The Long Table is a local community kitchen group that provides food parcel deliveries for those in need, including funding for free meals for the poorest.
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About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.