Coronavirus: Sussex Crisis Fund launched to support charities on the frontline of community action

Sussex people and businesses are being asked to donate – urgently and generously - to a new fund, set up by Sussex Community Foundation last week.
Kevin Richmond, CEO of the Sussex Community FoundationKevin Richmond, CEO of the Sussex Community Foundation
Kevin Richmond, CEO of the Sussex Community Foundation

The Sussex Crisis Fund is supporting local charities and community groups who are in the frontline of community action to help people suffering as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.

The fund will provide grants of up to £1,000 or even £5,000 to charities and community groups which need support.

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The aim is to have a very quick turnaround – with funds distributed within two weeks or even faster.

Kevin Richmond, chief executive of the Sussex Community Foundation, said charities needed immediate funds to help the vulnerable, making sure they are fed, have the medicines they need and are not too isolated.

Many charities are incurring new costs for computers, phones, online services or for the most basic things, like food and medicine for vulnerable people.

Further down the line, charities are worrying about whether they will survive without donations.

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“We are trying to respond to both of those things,” he said. “We are trying to support the work that’s happening in the community now.

“It’s absolutely amazing what is happening – from people organising whatsapp and Facebook groups on their street to look after eachother, to big charities who are making sure that nobody gets left behind.

“The situation is changing by the hour and charities on the ground are being so innovative and so compassionate.

“We want to make sure there is a good resource to help support that activity.”

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The Sussex Crisis Fund already has £100,000 in the pot, thanks to donations from The Argus Appeal and American Express.

But 126 applications from charities requesting grants have already been received, and Mr Richmond said the demand was ‘enormous’.

“We really need donations to help us meet that need,” he said. “We know there are lots of other appeals going on at the moment.

“The unique thing about what we can do, we can reach across all of Sussex.

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“We are raising funds for the whole charity sector and we are able to do that in a planned way.”

The Sussex Community Foundation is a charity which gives £2million worth of grants to local charities right across Sussex each year and Mr Richmond said this made it ‘really well placed’ to get money ‘right to the grassroots where it’s needed in this crisis’.

To donate to the Sussex Crisis Fund, visit www.totalgiving.co.uk/appeal/sussexcrisisfund

If you are a charity which wants to apply for a grant, visit sussexgiving.org.uk/apply-for-grants/how-it-works/

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