The cost-of-living crisis is affecting the majority of the population in the UK. Non-profits are mobilising to support those most affected by the rising costs of food, household goods, gas and more. In a previous article, we’ve worked out together that businesses have a role to play in the crisis and can alleviate some of the pressure on people and projects.
ActionFunder is lucky to be part of the solution to the cost-living-crisis by connecting non-profits with businesses that want to fund community action.
Here are some projects that have recently been funded through the ActionFunder platform. A snapshot of inspiring work of community groups across the country as they mobilise to address rising rates of food insecurity, poverty, and homelessness.
1. Don’t Walk Past Manchester: This Is My Home
Don’t Walk Past Manchester is a volunteer outreach group that goes out to Manchester city and surrounding areas five nights a week to feed, clothe, talk to, and provide essentials for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
Get Living recently funded the group £4,000 through ActionFunder. That money provided sleeping bags, blankets, thermal hats, gloves, socks, underwear, hand warmers, and survival bags to 500 people living on the streets.
2. St. Luke’s Community Centre: Community Cook and Share
St Luke’s Community Centre does local outreach in a densely populated inner-city neighbourhood in London. The majority of residents live in social housing and experience significant deprivation. Child poverty, unemployment, premature death, poor health, and isolation were already prevalent before the cost of living crisis.
“This year we set up the St Luke’s Welfare Grant Scheme to support local households in financial difficulty. The scheme has been developed in response to the sharp cost of living increase and aims to prevent issues from spiraling and threatening the stability of families and individuals.We are now delivering regular ‘community feasts’ at which volunteers cook up donated food and make a free evening meal for local residents in need.
We have just started opening the community centre on Saturday and Sunday and providing a free light lunch which we know will become a much-needed form of support during the Autumn/Winter when people will be facing even greater energy and food price increases. This year we have also created a new 6-week cookery programme which teaches households how to cook healthy meals on a budget.” ~Keren Wiltshire, St. Luke’s Community Centre
With £5,000 funding from Cheapside Business Alliance, the Centre was recently able to provide cooking classes for 388 people to teach new cooking skills, knowledge about healthy eating, and important tips on cost savings.
3. Lambeth Larder Community Resource CIC: Digital Project
Lambeth Larder Community Resource CIC connects people in food and financial crisis to the help they need, when they need it. Program beneficiaries include many of those who are most impacted by the cost of living crisis—the elderly, unemployed, disabled, minority communities, and people living in deprivation.
The organisation is currently looking for £4,500 funding to upgrade its tech infrastructure so it can support an additional 7,500 vulnerable Lambeth residents.
4. Home-Start Camden and Islington: Food & Clothing Distribution
Home-Start Camden and Islington provides practical and emotional support to parents of children under five who are struggling to cope with everyday life. These families are feeling significant impact from the current economic crisis.
The organisation recently received £3,000 from Central District Alliance for a project listed on ActionFunder. The funds went towards a family emergency essentials scheme, providing food vouchers, nappies, and essentials to 50 vulnerable families in Camden and Islington.
5. New Forest Basics Bank: Sowing Seeds for Local Food
New Forest Basics Bank delivers essential food to 100 families every week and another 20 families visit their Food Rescue Kitchen daily.
As part of a new initiative, New Forest Transition is empowering people in Lymington to overcome food insecurity by getting them engaged with what they grow, cook, and eat. Their recent project on ActionFunder was backed by South West Water. With the £1,200 funding they received, they taught 150 people new skills for sowing, growing, harvesting, and cooking their own food.
6. Oxford Mutual Aid: Oxford Baby Boost
Oxford Mutual Aid (OMA) delivers regular food and emergency parcels to people living in food poverty in Oxford, with additional support for those requiring baby products, the need for which has soared in recent months.
“OMA has begun restructuring our budget so as to ensure that we simply have enough food to put in our food parcels. As mentioned above, we are attempting to build our Winter resilience to prepare for increased demand while at the same time facing food shortages. Devastatingly, this often means we have to make budget cuts elsewhere and we have very little room to manoeuvre.” ~Muireann Meehan Speed, Oxford Mutual Aid
Over the past year OMA have won funding on ActionFunder from Sir Robert McAlpine and M&C Freeman Charitable Trust. Now they’re seeking further support to meet soaring demand on their services, across provision of food and baby-basics.
Their Baby Boost project is seeking £4,620 to provide access to baby essentials for at least 148 infants per week.
7. Humans MCR: Community Grocers On-Wheels
Humans MCR addresses short- and long-term issues around food poverty. They’ve so far delivered over 65,000 meals to clients’ doorsteps.
“We are working hard to increase our capacity – we are currently looking to employ another delivery driver which would see our capacity almost double overnight. We are conscious that filling this role before Autumn hits is on top of our priority list. We have always been proud to offer fresh vegetables in all of our foodbank parcels but we have started stocking tinned potatoes, carrots and peas to make these quicker to cook at home. We have also started stocking an increased range of foods that can be prepared using only a kettle and a microwave as people aren’t able to afford to use the hob/oven.” ~ Lewey Hellewell, Humans MCR
Last year, the non-profit won funding on ActionFunder from Sir Robert McAlpine. Now they’re seeking £2,820 to fund The Grocers on Wheels project to reduce dependency on food banks and break the cycle of generational poverty for 13,000 people.
8. The Suited & Booted Centre: Safely Booted
Suited & Booted helps men who are homeless or vulnerable get into work by providing them with appropriate clothing for interviews and work.
They’ve previously seen success in finding funding from Capital Arches Group, Central District Alliance and Sir Robert McAlpine through ActionFunder. With a recent surge in requests for support they’re now seeking funding of £3,000 to purchase shoes so that their clients can put their best foot forward in seeking work.
9. Fresh Start: Starter Packs
Fresh Start is an Edinburgh-based charity that provides a range of services to local people experiencing poverty. Their community pantry provides affordable groceries to those without financial access to nutritious food. And their Starter Packs help people who have been homeless get established in their new homes.
Fresh Start was funded £3,000 by Sir Robert McAlpine through ActionFunder last year. That funding was enough to get 50 previously homeless people established in their new tenancies.
Fresh Start is now seeking £3,000 to fund basic, nutritious food supplies for their Community Pantry. The Pantry runs on a membership model that offers beneficiaries the chance to budget well and eat well long term, providing a sustainable solution to food poverty in North Edinburgh.
An easy way for your business to support community action
ActionFunder is a company-to-community giving platform that makes it easy for businesses to support people at risk during this cost of living crisis. You can find, fund, and follow community action in three easy steps.
- Create a fund on ActionFunder. Decide how much you want to donate, the types of causes you want to support, and what geographic area you want to serve. Get inspired by funds other businesses have created.
- Be instantly matched with aligned non-profits in your area. You can also use your marketing channels to encourage other groups to apply to your fund.
- Choose which projects to fund and approve them through your ActionFunder dashboard. Then monitor updates, stories, and impact data from the projects you’ve funded. And celebrate the results!
Companies that use ActionFunder cut the time and cost of local giving by 75%. It’s a great way to help people quickly during the cost of living crisis.
If your business wants to make a difference, book your no-obligation demo of ActionFunder today.
