Academic partners

Nottingham Trent University and the Coronavirus Appeal

The Coronavirus Appeal was our first ever appeal. We launched it on 18 March 2020. Nottingham Trent University ran an independent, ESRC-funded evaluation in two phases, so we could learn from a response we had never made before.

Phase one looked at how the appeal worked: how decisions were made, how funds reached people, how need was identified, and how the appeal was governed. Phase two looked at what the money did. It tracked funding through community foundations and national funding partners, and what that funding achieved for communities between March 2020 and February 2021.

The evaluation found the Coronavirus Appeal reached an estimated 13 million people. It credited much of that to a Network of Giving, with community foundations and national partners using local knowledge to direct funding where it was needed.

Read the NTU evaluation (opens in a new tab) ↗

Lancaster University and Bee The Difference

Bee The Difference is about young survivors of the Manchester Arena attack. Nine of them, all under 18 when the attack happened, designed the project with researchers at Lancaster University, led by Dr Cath Hill, and with us. They set out to show how the attack affected them, what support they were offered, and what actually helped.

The report found that 29% of young survivors had never received professional support. It sets out six ways to change that, and a role for every part of society in making it happen.

That work has already had an effect. We have changed how we operate. Government and other charities have used it to improve how they support children and young people after a traumatic event.

Read the Bee The Difference report

Lancaster University and Stories After The Storms

We worked with Lancaster University again on Stories After The Storms. It looks at what survivors go through after a flood, and the support they do and do not get. Dr Cath Hill led the research with us, and flood survivors helped design it.

The report came out in December 2025. It draws on the experiences of more than 100 people flooded across the UK. The findings come from an online survey and one-to-one interviews.

It found that 43% of those flooded received no professional help with their practical or wellbeing needs. 69% said their mental health was affected, but only a third of them got support for it. Outside of insurance, almost a third never received any financial help at all. (Stories After The Storms, 2025)

The report sets out five ways to make support faster, fairer and more compassionate. They include putting clear information in survivors' hands from day one, getting emergency cash to people in the first week, and building mental health care into recovery from the start.

Read Stories After The Storms