The youth charity Reclaim has launched an emergency fundraiser to keep its doors open, warning of the toll a “relentless” political and financial climate has taken on its work.
The Manchester-based charity, which aims to empower working-class young people across the UK, said that if it fails to meet its £20,000 target by 12 November, it may be forced to close.
In an email to Third Sector, Becky Bainbridge, chief executive of Reclaim, said the current financial and political climate was “relentless” for those working in small charities, adding that a handful of others are also on a “knife-edge”.
She told Third Sector that Reclaim has restricted funding secured for its programmes and campaigns but it has encountered challenges accessing unrestricted funding for its infrastructure.
Other financial challenges include “sky-high” competition for funding, Bainbridge said, adding that the charity often has to reduce its overhead costs in restricted funding bids to avoid losing out to larger organisations.
She said that local authority funding, which used to be a dominant source of income for the charity, has “completely disappeared”.
In addition, world events such as the cost-of-living crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic, climate emergencies and wars have changed where funders direct their money, Bainbridge said, which has impacted the amount of funding available.
“We need funding, private and public, that is long-term and properly recognises every aspect of our work,” she said.
“That way we can stop constantly chasing our tail and actually build the capacity and capability needed to tackle the social injustice which holds back our young people in working-class communities.”
Bainbridge added that the political climate was putting increased pressure on the charity, saying the funding sector often replicates the power issues that the charity aims to tackle – with some funding streams being inaccessible to smaller charities due to restraints caused by their size and infrastructure.
She also said that if Reclaim were to come under fire from high-ranking politicians as part of ongoing culture war narratives, it would not have the resources to fend off the backlash.
In a statement on Reclaim’s JustGiving page, the charity said the ongoing impact of austerity, coupled with the pressure of the cost-of-living crisis, “is having a huge impact on charities and youth organisations, including ours. Too many small charities have closed over the last couple of years; we don’t want to be one of them.”