'Desperately difficult fundraising environment' forces charity group closure

The Cares Family group of charities has announced it is to close due to a “ desperately difficult fundraising environment”.

The group consisted of a national charity and five local charities, in Manchester, Liverpool and three in London covering the North, South and East areas of the capital.

The charities had focused on tackling loneliness and isolation though outreach work and group activities, such as quiz nights, dance classes and comedy sessions. This also involved bringing younger and older people together.

But in a statement on all five of the local charities’ websites and their national social media account the group has confirmed it has ceased operating immediately and acknowledged “this news is sudden and will come as a shock”.

“The sad reality is that, like many charities, we’re in a desperately difficult fundraising environment,” said the statement.

“While support for tackling isolation increased during the pandemic, in the current economic climate this has fallen away significantly, with many pressing issues competing for the limited support available.”

We are devastated to share that The Cares Family charities have closed due to financial difficulties. We’re fiercely proud of our staff, our communities, and all we’ve built together over the past 12 years. More here: https://t.co/08XuEttfur
— The Cares Family (@TheCaresFamily) October 31, 2023

The charity group said that its advocacy work had “long been underappreciated” and it had been further hindered by investing almost all its funding into its programmes and projects which had “made it even harder to survive”.

This model left it without “the flexibility to significantly reduce our costs without making it impossible to deliver against our commitments”.

The charity group added that “in recent weeks” it had sought “expert financial and legal advice” but had “come to the conclusion that there’s no viable path for the charities that would enable them to continue their work”.

The charity is now looking to “explore ways” to build on its work and help other organisations to support local communities. It is also “doing all we can” to signpost other sources of support to service users.

This week an NCVO survey found that one in five charities could face closure this winter due to rising demand and falling income.