More than 8,000 charities have been allocated a share of £200m in emergency funding from the Coronavirus Community Support Fund, the government has announced.
The money is being distributed by The National Lottery Community Fund as part of the government’s £750m support package for the sector announced in April.
A total of 8,250 small and medium-sized organisations in England have been allocated grants to help them meet increased demand as a result of the coronavirus crisis and continue their day-to-day activities supporting those in need, according to a statement from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.
The money has helped a wide range of causes working on the front line of the pandemic, including the fan-owned football club FC United’s project to help vulnerable families in Manchester, which was given £35,070, and Re-engage, a charity supporting older people at risk of social isolation across the country, which was allocated £66,000.
Dawn Austwick, chief executive of the NLCF, said: “Communities and charities across the country have responded magnificently to the Covid-19 crisis and those who have benefited from the CCSF funding that we have distributed encapsulate the generosity, spirit and expert knowledge that we have all seen in our local neighbourhoods.”
By July, only one per cent of the fund had been allocated and the government faced fierce criticism from charity leaders one month later when it emerged that three-quarters of the fund was yet to be awarded.
But Oliver Dowden, the culture secretary, said today all of the money had since been allocated.
He added: “Charities are there when we need them the most, and this emergency funding has kept their doors open during the biggest crisis for a generation.”