Hackney’s local giving scheme, Hackney Giving, was all set to re-launch in early 2020 when the pandemic struck. However, plans were disrupted but the generosity of residents and businesses, together with the support of statutory funders means that over the last year Hackney Giving has been able to distribute far more funding to local communities than planned. Here, Sarah Watson (Development and Programme Manager, Hackney Giving) shares her experiences with the London’s Giving network.
Hackney Giving ran from 2014-2017 and following a break, was brought back in 2020 thanks to funding from City Bridge Trust to Hackney CVS to cover the programme’s core costs. I started in February 2020, just as news of covid-19 was starting to emerge. Hackney Giving sprang into action to respond to new and changing community needs.
As the pandemic hit, it was striking how people wanted to support their neighbours: mutual aid groups sprung up overnight and our online donations platform was immediately busy with monetary gifts. Hackney CVS has a long history of supporting the voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector in Hackney, and advocated for the sector with senior colleagues at the CCG and the City and Hackney Public Health team.
As a result, we have run eight grants rounds since April 2020, distributing more than £950,000 – which included support from the CCG and Public Health team. This is an astonishing figure for a newly relaunched programme run by a small team, and far exceeded our expectations.
We have been able to support people with food and supplies, mental health provision, activities for young people, digital skills training for older people and hospital transport services. We’ve also had a large focus on communicating up to date health messaging to people who may not be obtaining current guidance via mainstream media.
The feedback from grantees really shows the difference that these services can make. One service user said:
I felt hopeless and isolated during this pandemic. I thought there is no one could help me. Your organisation helped me during my hard times and made me feel that I was not alone. Now, I feel strong and glad that I had access to your services.
We’ve been delighted that business supporters and residents’ donations have allowed us to run a small grants round in parallel, focusing on wellbeing, reducing isolation and mental health support as the lockdowns ease this summer.
The last year has given us the opportunity to build relationships and work closely with Public Health professionals. Crucially, the organisations we have funded have also been able to get to know statutory sector colleagues and feed back to them about the challenges facing communities - thereby strengthening the Public Health Team’s knowledge and understanding of what’s happening on the ground.
These network links, together with the ongoing demonstration of the value of the VCSE sector in reaching the people most affected by coronavirus has given Hackney’s Public Health team the confidence to distribute additional funding through Hackney Giving and we expect to pass the £1million mark in the coming weeks!
It goes without saying that this has been an exceptional 15 months, and the implications of the pandemic will continue for some time to come. We are nurturing the relationships we have established so far and plan to build our networks of individual and business givers so that Hackney Giving is a sustainable programme that supports communities in Hackney over the long term, whatever the future holds.
To find out more about Hackney Giving, please go to https://www.hackneygiving.org.uk/