With one in 10 UK charities facing bankruptcy this year, the charity sector is one of the worst-hit by the pandemic. At the end of 2020, the NFU Mutual Charitable Trust donated a further GBP 235,000 to support ten UK charities.
This takes the Trust’s total donations to GBP 1,092,500 in 2020, with 20 organisations receiving funding over the year. The increased donations were made possible by an additional GBP 750,000 pledge from rural insurer and ICMIF member NFU Mutual, aiming to help charities maintain resilience during the pandemic.
So far this year, the funding has helped to support a range of initiatives, including projects that tackle isolation, support mental health and wellbeing, and enrich young lives through agricultural education and innovation.
The impacts of these initiatives have included: support for 523 households from RSABI (a Scottish charity dedicated to the relief of hardship and poverty amongst people who have depended for their livelihoods on the land); support provided over 1 million times by Samaritans (a charity providing emotional support to anyone in emotional distress, struggling to cope, or at risk of suicide in the UK and Ireland) via phone, email and letters; and 16,309 hours of continual professional development for teachers delivered by LEAF Education (a charity working to provide young people with balanced and informed insight into sustainable food production and farming).
The charities set to benefit from the latest donations are:
- Addington Fund
- LEAF Education
- National Federation of Young Farmers’ Clubs (NFYFC)
- Open Farm weekend NI
- Prince’s Countryside Fund
- Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution (R.A.B.I)
- RSABI
- Rural Support
- Samaritans
- YFCU
The donations have already been made available, allowing the charities to continue to provide crucial support services after difficult year which has seen many of their usual fundraising activities cancelled.
Lindsay Sinclair, Group Chief Executive of NFU Mutual and a member of ICMIF’s Board of Directors, said: “In The Charitable Trust’s biggest year for donations since it was established in 1998, NFU Mutual is proud to have supported causes across all corners of the UK which are changing lives and giving hope for a better future.
“While many fundraising events have had to be side-lined this year, the demand for these charities’ services has grown. We want to help them meet that need and build resilience for the future, maintaining practical and emotional support for our communities at a time which is proving especially difficult.”
