Community Foundation sets £1m fundraising goal

The Community Foundation for Lancashire plans to raise funds to be distributed among communities and local charities struggling with the impact of coronavirus.

The Lancashire COVID-19 Community Support Fund is the official Lancashire response fund dealing with this humanitarian crisis. The foundation hopes to exceed the £1m which it raised during the wake of the 2015 floods.

Funds raised will be used to provide immediate and emergency support for community businesses and third sector organisations, as well as supporting resilience measures.

Priority will initially be given to getting food to people who are isolated and in greatest need; protecting the most vulnerable children while schools are closed; helping people who have recently left the hospital to recover at home; supporting people with their mental wellbeing; and helping people who are struggling with debt.

The team is also coordinating with all borough and district councils, including Lancashire County Council, as well as police, and NHS via the Lancashire Resilience Forum (LRF) to raise awareness and funding agreements across the county. It is also working in partnership with Lancashire Business View and Marketing Lancashire to raise awareness of the fund.

The foundation is working with central government and national businesses via the National Emergency Fund (NET), and the national UK Community Foundation network, as we will be receiving Lancashire’s allocations of the NET Fund. Nationally, £14m has been pledged so far.

Owen Phillips, development manager, said: "We appreciate not everyone is in a position to help at this time; however, if you are able to, it would be greatly appreciated. By us all working together, we will have a more significant impact in Lancashire."

The Community Foundation for Lancashire is a registered charity working with donors and businesses to help to enable charitable giving, to charities and grass-roots community groups that provide critical and specialist support to the most vulnerable people in our communities.