Charity Survival Fund

Established by Julia and Hans Rausing to help charities in need during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Charity Survival Fund provided £18 million during 2020 to support the core costs of charities across the UK.

The Charity Survival Fund was a time-limited open application programme during summer 2020 and is now closed.

The Fund provided grants to 329 charities who submitted successful funding applications.

Grants ranged in size from just over £1,000 up to £250,000. The average grant size was £55,000.

Most charities receiving funds were operating in the Trust’s funding theme of Health & Wellbeing (64%), followed by Welfare & Education (29%) and Arts & Culture (7%).

One aim of the Fund was to ensure that smaller charities that might have fewer funding opportunities were able to benefit, as well as medium and larger organisations. Over one quarter of grants were awarded to charities with an annual income below £100,000.

Background

The Fund was launched in July 2020 and open for a limited period over that summer, with a call for applications from charities in the UK, marking the first time the Trust had been open to applications. Over 2,600 submissions were received with a total request value exceeding £174 million, demonstrating the urgent need within the sector.

In response to the need and quality of applications received, the initial Fund value of £10m was increased to £18m. Applications were carefully assessed on how well they aligned with the Trust’s main areas of interest, the impact of the applicant charity’s work, their financial need and future sustainability.

A total of 329 applications were successful and shared the £18m funding. All grant funds were distributed by early November 2020, just a little over 6 weeks from announcement of successful charities, ensuring that funds were put to work quickly in order to help charities continue to deliver their work.

For the location of charities funded, see the above map (note that this is based on postcode data provided by the applicant, and may not represent the full area across which a given charity operates).

See the full list of grants made via The Charity Survival Fund.