Hackney Giving ran from 2014 to 2017 with the support of the National Lottery Community Fund. During this time we raised over £300k for local community groups and their good causes. In these years, Hackney Giving was running as a partnership programme, and grant-making was undertaken by East End Community Foundation. 

In 2019, Hackney CVS secured funding from City Bridge Trust (now called City Bridge Foundation) to relaunch Hackney Giving as an in-house programme and operate for a further 5 years. 

In March 2020, we were gearing up to relaunch. As a result, when the pandemic began, Hackney CVS had the systems and staff in place to make grants through Hackney Giving and we were able to respond quickly to the unprecedented challenges brought about by COVID-19. Hackney Giving proved to be the ideal mechanism for concerned residents who wanted to donate money to support their neighbours and the wider community. 

During 2020, we also became a trusted channel for statutory funders, including the City and Hackney Public Health Team and North East London NHS Clinical Commissioning Group. With funding from these partners we were able to distribute grants to voluntary and community sector (VCS) organisations. By the end of 2021, we had distributed more than £1.2million to support a wide range of communities in Hackney and the City of London.  

In 2022, residents found themselves up against a different challenge: the increased cost of living. Hackney Giving ran a fundraising appeal to secure donations to support people through the cost of living crisis. We raised and distributed £15,000 via a community appeal and were then approached by Hackney Council to distribute further funding on its behalf.  

In 2022 and 2023, we ran five cost of living funding rounds in partnership with the Council, as well as a programme to support people living with Long COVID, a funding round to support people locally who were affected by the earthquake in Turkey and Syria and a community chest to increase people’s access to health services and financial support.  

As well as continuing to raise funds from individuals, we’ve been supported by two beloved Hackney institutions: London Fields Lido and its swimmers have raised funds towards the cost of living appeal, and at the end of 2023, staff at Burberry’s store in Chatham Place sold cakes and tasty lunches to one another in aid of Hackney Giving, and their contributions were matched pound-for-pound by the company.  

Our work with Hackney Council and the NHS is ongoing, building on the successful partnerships that were established during the pandemic. We are working to encourage more individuals to give via Hackney Giving and to engage a wider range of businesses.