Businesses urged not to forget charities at this vital time

The warning has come from Philip Webb, founder and managing director of Chesterfield-based Investors in Community, one of the UK’s leading online giving platforms.

Experts believe nearly 80 per cent of Britain’s 169,000 registered goodwill causes are at risk of closure, with the vast majority of fundraising activity on hold, events cancelled, and charity shops closed, leading to a stark drop in overall donations.

Philip said: “It’s estimated that the majority of small-scale charitable organisations have around three months’ cash reserves, leaving little or no spare capital to fall back in the event of short-term cash flow problems.

“Many businesses are also worried about surviving themselves right now, so a lot of CSR activity has been put on hold.

“However it’s vital that these partnerships are maintained wherever possible.

“At Investors in Community, we wanted to do whatever we could to help these charities maintain some form of income stream.

“The platform is always completely free of charge for charities, but during such unprecedented times we have taken the unanimous decision to waive all fees for businesses too, in the hope this will go some way to helping firms identify urgent charity projects and help those in need wherever they can.”