Welsh charities to receive extra £2.25m in funding

Charities in Wales are set to receive an additional £2.25m in funding, with priority given to those supporting vulnerable and marginalised groups.

The money is being distributed by the Wales Council for Voluntary Action (WCVA) through the Third Sector Resilience Fund for Wales.

WCVA has confirmed that the £2.25m is in addition to the £24m of support previously announced by the Welsh Government. The Fund has already supported 235 charities in Wales since April 2020.

This third phase of funding moves the Fund’s strategy towards prioritising organisations which have not already benefitted from previous funding awards as well as those “delivering support to people with protected characteristics”.

This includes Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups, older people, people with disabilities and women who have been subject to violence and abuse.

The Fund will also offer up to £50,000 in ‘survive and thrive’ grants to charities.

First minister for Wales Mark Drakeford announced the additional funding at online voluntary sector event gofod3 this week.

He said: “The Welsh Government will continue to support the Third Sector and its very important work. We are launching the latest Third Sector Resilience Fund, which will help protect Third Sector organisations that are still vulnerable and put others on a sounder footing.

‘We will again work with WCVA to distribute these funds and I’d like to take this opportunity to thank them for the work that they have done over the past year to support the sector.’

Among those to already benefit is the charity Cerebral Palsy Cymru.

The charity’s head of income generation Rachel Morgan said: “‘Without WCVA funding we would have struggled to maintain our unique services for children and families, and we wouldn’t have been able to think outside the box and come up with alternative forms of fundraising.

"Last year, our income was slashed by 45% but this funding enabled us to save therapy posts and diversify our income sources. In supporting some of the charity’s core salary costs, Covid-19 emergency funding has directly influenced our ability to deliver essential services to an increasingly vulnerable community, whose needs are progressively severe and complex.”

WCVA chief executive Ruth Marks added: “We are thrilled to be working with Welsh Government again, distributing vital funds to the voluntary sector.

“The third phase of this particular fund – Third Sector Resilience Fund – will focus on supporting the sector to ‘survive and thrive’ while working towards a fair and just recovery, which is why the decision to prioritise organisations working with protected characteristics has been made.”