£151k funding boost for community groups supporting residents with cost of living

Hackney Giving has distributed over £151,000 in funding from the Cost of Living grants scheme. In total, 30 Hackney organisations have been allocated just over £5,000 each.

This includes funding for community organisations working with vulnerable families, people with mental ill health, cancer survivors, homeless people and carers.

Sarah Watson, Development and Programme Manager, Hackney Giving, said: “The high cost of living is continuing to have a huge impact on people and Hackney’s voluntary and community sector organisations are doing everything they can to support people so that they can eat well and pay their bills.”

Watson added: “The grants that Hackney Giving has made will go towards that vital work. Once again, we had more applications than we could fund, which shows the high level of demand that charities and community groups are facing. This funding will help those groups make a real difference to the people they work with.”

There have been previous rounds of the Cost of Living grants. 98 grants have been awarded in total in this scheme and this most recent funding takes the total distributed by Hackney Giving in Cost of Living grants to £515,000.

Debby Sprung, from the Butterfly Club – Echod Cancer Care, explains some of the difficulties children face and how a Cost of Living grant has helped them to support these children. She says: “For many of these children, returning home to find a parent feeling feeble and unwell, with no supper prepared, has been an all-too-common experience. Others have come home to an empty house because their parents had to rush to the hospital, leaving them feeling vulnerable and alone.

“The Butterfly Club, thanks to your support, has been able to step in and provide a ray of hope during these difficult times. We’ve used your donation to serve nutritious dinners at our after-school club, and to date, we’ve already provided 420 meals to these families. Your contribution has not only filled empty stomachs but has also filled these children with hope, relief, and a sense of security in knowing that they are not alone in their struggles.”

Hackney Giving is part of the local charity Hackney CVS. Tony Wong, Chief Executive Officer, says: “Our members from across Hackney and City’s vibrant voluntary and community sector have voiced real concerns about the impact of the cost of living crisis for those most at risk within our communities. The voluntary and community sector is doing what it does best, and rallying round, but the scale of need is unprecedented.”

This work was delivered in partnership with Hackney Council, using Household Support Fund monies allocated to Hackney by Central Government.

Grant recipients

A list of organisations approved for Cost of Living grants in November 2023 is available here.