One of the country’s largest foundations has announced plans to uplift grants to help charities during the inflation crisis.
The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation said today that it would spend £7.4m to increase funding to many existing grantees “in recognition of the extraordinary rise in the cost of living over the past year”.
The scheme will cover “most grants made in or before 2022 where work is ongoing in January 2023 and is being affected by rising costs”.
The funder made grants worth more than £50m last year.
Payments topping up existing grants are capped at £60,000. A spokesperson told Third Sector the additional money would come from the foundation’s endowment and “most” of its grantees would be eligible. The foundation is looking at making sure the uplift matched inflation at about 10 per cent.
The news comes after other charitable funders promised uplifts in grants in response to soaring inflation. They include the National Lottery Community Fund, the Bank of Scotland Foundation and the William Grant Foundation.
One-third of London-based funders have also indicated that they plan to raise the value of existing grants in the months ahead.
Editor’s note (16 December): Story amended to clarify how many of the funders’ grantees will benefit from the change