ACO uses Smallwood Trust grant-making toolkit for new COVID-19 guide
We are pleased that our grant-making toolkit has been used by the Association of Charitable Organisations (ACO) in their new guide that advises organisations on how to create funds for individuals affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
The ACO’s press release (dated 5/5/2020) is as follows:
ACO has today published a new guide to giving financial support to individuals during the COVID-19 crisis
The guide gives guidance to organisations looking to set up new funds to provide financial grants to individuals adversely impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak.
‘Coronavirus: delivering financial support. A guide for grant making to individuals during the COVID-19 outbreak’ identifies the key considerations and minimum requirements for establishing grant making operations to support individuals during the present pandemic.
It also provides insight into how charities have adapted their usual grant making procedures in light of COVID-19 to be more flexible, to provide advice to new grant makers on how to set up their operations.
While the guide also recommends working with existing ACO grant giving charities to help enable new grant givers to use existing infrastructure to distribute funds quickly and efficiently, for those wishing to establish a new fund it provides a step-by-step guide to what should be considered.
The full guide can be downloaded for free Here and from the ACO’s website. Please share this guide with anyone that may be interested in its contents and with your wider contacts as appropriate.
Donal Watkin, Chief Executive of ACO, commented: “As a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, we have seen an increase in organisations wishing to set up new funds to help individuals requiring urgent financial support.
“While it is encouraging to see new funds being established, it is important they are managed effectively to operate efficiently and best meet the needs of individuals. As the UK’s umbrella body for benevolent funds, we have used our insight into working with benevolent charities during the current crisis to develop this guide to help new funds establish their grant making operations.”
For any questions please contact Hannah Page: hannah@aco.uk.net (020 7255 4496)
Note: Smallwood Trust’s contact is Emma Crump: emmacrump@smallwoodtrust.org.uk.
Please visit the following link to check your eligibility and see if we can help through our grants to individuals programme: https://www.smallwoodtrust.org.uk/flexible-response-fund
