Ready Together
Over the days and weeks that follow, we work with local partners to understand how the emergency has affected individuals and communities. We release appeal donations in phases, so the funding matches what survivors need as their situation changes.
Funding for individuals
We give some appeal donations straight to survivors as financial gifts. Every survivor's needs are different, so each person decides how to spend their gift.
Survivors of past emergencies have told us what this money makes possible. It pays for specialist medical care. It replaces what a flood destroyed. It covers bills when an injury stops someone working.
Funding for charities that offer support services
We also give appeal donations as grants to charities that run support services for survivors. Someone living through a traumatic event might need mental health care from a charity near their home.
We fund local charities first. They often have fewer resources than national ones. National charity partners then fill the gaps that local support cannot reach.
The Coronavirus Appeal
We raised £99 million and funded more than 14,000 projects across the UK during the pandemic. Where the money went.
When we launch a national appeal
Every emergency is different. We use four tests to decide whether to launch a national appeal.
- National significance.
- The emergency matters nationally, even when the impact is local. A terrorist attack, a major fire or a natural emergency can all qualify.
- Unmet needs.
- The emergency creates immediate needs that are not being met.
- Public support.
- There is good reason to believe an appeal would succeed. One early sign is the public already giving through individual fundraising pages.
- The right thing to do.
- Our Board of Trustees decides whether an appeal is the right response.
When an emergency does not meet our criteria
Some emergencies do not meet our criteria for a national appeal. When that happens, we help local organisations respond instead. That can mean supporting a local council or community foundation to raise funds for survivors.
We can also bring the right people together. We connect the major fundraising platforms, the charity regulators, national policymakers and first responders, so the response is planned and survivors get help faster.
Whether we launch our own appeal or help another organisation respond, we support survivors with their immediate needs and their longer-term recovery.
