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Funding Local Causes

Our response to Coronovirus (Covid-19)

Hertfordshire Community Foundation (HCF) recognises that the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak is a major event and that many small, local charities and community groups will be worried about its impact on their work and communities. We want in this note to reassure you that we are doing everything we can to continue supporting the sector at this time.

Our Coronavirus Disaster Relief Fund has already provided emergency grants exceeding £337,000, helping more than 90 local groups providing frontline support to those in greatest need. The fund was kick-started by our fundholders and boosted by the National Emergencies Trust appeal. HCF continues to raise further funds so that we can give support to voluntary groups providing care and support for elderly and vulnerable people hit by the social and economic impact of the coronavirus. We are now accepting applications for funding. Find out more HERE

To inform the next phase of our grant-making, we invited local charities and voluntary groups to tell us about their challenges, aspirations and emerging needs impacting their organisation and beneficiaries at this time. Thank you to everyone who completed our online survey and who took the time to talk to us. We are collating the responses and will communicate our findings in the near future.

Our Training and Development team have transformed their training and development opportunities into practical help delivered online. The latest training series is specifically designed to support voluntary sector board members and leadership staff to ensure good governance during COVID-19 and beyond. To find out more about the Better Boards online training ‘Good governance during COVID-19 and beyond’ CLICK HERE.

Remember the following points too:
  • There’s lots of good advice out there, including from NCVO, which we encourage you to look at.

  • Our team is working remotely but we are continuing with business as usual at HCF as much as we can. We ask that if you need to get in touch you email us. You can find each of our email addresses HERE.

  • We know local community organisations are supporting some of the most vulnerable people but will themselves be under extra pressure and uncertainty. So, we’re going to be as flexible as we can be about grants already made. We know they may have to adapt activities and that’s fine – just let us know when you can. If you think you’re going to need to extend the timetable for the activity we’ve funded, or you need more time to report to us, again, let us know.

  • Keep an eye on our training and development pages, where we have adapted our offering to online training. Find out more HERE

Last updated: 19 May 2020

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