The Cabinet Office has announced over £15m worth of support to four separate social action initiatives, including investing in a “new phase of the Centre for Social Action”.
In a statement released yesterday to mark Giving Tuesday, the Cabinet Office said that it would be investing £15m into the Centre for Social Action, set up a £500,000 fund for community organisers and pledged to match donations to the Text Santa grant and Localgiving’s GiveMe5 campaign.
According to the Cabinet Office’s press release, the £15m investment will “help ideas that can make a difference to grow and become routine in our public services and communities”. The funding will be rolled out over the four year life of the parliament.
The Cabinet Office has also set up the Community Organisers Mobilisation Fund, in concert with the department for communities and local government, which is “worth over £500,000”. The fund aims to increase the number of community organisers recruited to 10,000 by March 2020 across the UK.
Up to £100,000 will also be donated to ITV’s Text Santa charity appeal. The government pledged to give £5 to the appeal for each of the first 15,000 donations for a total of £75,000 and also give £5 for each of the 5,000 people who “search for volunteering opportunities” through Text Santa for a further £25,000.
The government also said they would match 1,000 £5 donations made to Localgiving’s Giving Tuesday fundraising campaign #GiveMe5 with a “private philanthropist”. With the match funding, the total raised will come to £10,000.
The Cabinet Office said that its support for social action would “support and incentivise people to get involved” in volunteering and charitable activity.
Rob Wilson, minister for civil society (pictured), said: “Volunteers are the backbone of communities across the country – unsung heroes selflessly giving their time. So many organisations, from charities to community groups, would be unable to make the difference they do without the incredible support of volunteers.
“Volunteering is also a fantastic way to gain new skills and experiences, and people who volunteer have significantly higher levels of life satisfaction.
“It’s easy to get involved, so this festive season why not take the opportunity to find a cause you can support.”
