The Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales (LBFEW) will allocate £5.5m to small charities led by and working for Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) and D/deaf and disabled communities over three years.
In its four-year strategy, the independent charitable foundation announced that it will make grants worth £75,000 available to small, local and specialist charities with an income of £25,000-£500,000.
Overall, BAME and D/deaf and disability-led charities will receive £5.5m (£2.75m each), which is half of the foundation’s core funding.
LBFEW said that the funding will help these charities have better “stability and greater freedom to use as they see best”.
Supporting small and local charities
In 2020, LBFEW pledged to allocate at least 25% of its core funding to charities led by and for BAME communities. Since then, it has awarded 28% of its funding to such charities.
It has now committed to ring-fence another 25% for charities led by and for D/deaf and disabled people.
Alongside funding, the foundation will increase its capacity building support to help charities form or deepen collaborations in a bid to address key issues in their areas.
It will also seek to influence policy makers to secure commitments that could improve the way services and charities are commissioned. The foundation said it will focus on improving the “availability of accommodation, the operation of the welfare system and the support provided to refugees and asylum seekers”.
Small charities are ‘best placed to create lasting change’
Paul Streets, chief executive of LBFEW, said: “Small charities, who were on the frontline during the pandemic providing a lifeline for communities, now face rising costs, increased demand for support, insecure income and staff burnout. Yet, small charities are best placed to create lasting change because of their size, unique understanding of the community they support, and ability to adapt.
“To ensure we use our resources effectively, we’re focusing on small, local and specialist charities, where our combination of funding, support and resources will help charities thrive, communities grow stronger, and people overcome complex issues and barriers so they can transform their lives.”
Varsha Parmar, executive officer at Equality Action, a small charity funded by the foundation, said: “It is thanks to funders like Lloyds that saw us through some of our toughest times and helped us to take stock again. Like many other charities and organisations, we get caught up in the delivery of day-to-day services needed by beneficiaries and overlook taking time to reflect on the organisation's internal workings.
“We know we need to strengthen our internal structures and review our long-term strategy, but charities do not have the funding to do this, as most funders only give restricted funding for specific projects. The funding from Lloyds has been a blessing for our charity with the two years unrestricted grant and the amazing consultancy support in kind.”
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