Benevolent charities have reported seeing a rise in demand for their services and a change in the demographic of beneficiaries as the cost-of-living crisis continues.
Donal Watkin, chief executive of the Association of Charitable Organisations (ACO), which represents more than 120 charities that provide financial support, told Civil Society that ACO members saw a 7% increase in expenditure in terms of financial support to individuals over the last year.
Watkin said the rise is the “symptomatic response to the cost-of-living crisis”.
“Typically, amongst our broader grantmaking charities, it is fair to say that the cost-of-living crisis has seen not only an increase in financial support but a lot more advice from these charities around things like benefits,” Watkin said.
Other issues that persist are stigma and uncertainty, he said.
“There has been this traditional issue sometimes over people being reticent to seek support, or they feel that they don't deserve the support that's more relevant to people on a lower income.
“So, for some of our charities, that is still an issue.”
Shift in demographic
Speaking yesterday at a panel discussion at ACO’s annual conference, Anna Dearden, manager of Chemists’ Community Fund, said the charity has seen an increase in demand for financial support from younger professionals.
Dearden said: “Younger professionals who are perhaps entering their first job are either being paid minimum wage or just above minimum wage and are finding that their level of income, even though they are in work, is not meeting the living expenses that they're facing.”
The charity is balancing between supporting the beneficiaries while at the same time making sure that it is not making beneficiaries dependent on them for the long term, she said.
‘A perfect storm’
The cost-of-living crisis has also brought pressure to the Longleigh Foundation, a grantmaking social housing charity, chief executive Aileen Edmunds told Civil Society.
Edmunds said: “We're seeing people who weren't struggling before are now struggling.
“The rising need and the expectation of us to meet that need is growing, coupled with our ability to find funding has also been restricted by the cost-of-living crisis. So, there's an increasing competition for funds.”
Government funding policy has been “increasingly cut and cut and cut”, so the available funding has been reduced while the cost of living has increased, she said.
She said these two factors have been a “perform storm”.
While her charity has been fortunate to receive strong support, Edmunds said she “can see colleagues across the sector on their knees looking for funding, while looking into the eyes of people who are completely desperate and wanting to meet that need and being unable to have enough resources to do anything about it”.
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