Heart of England Community Foundation recognises that the covid-19 outbreak is an exceptional event that will have an impact on civil society groups, and want to offer reassurance that we stand shoulder to shoulder with the sector during this time. We wish to be as helpful as possible during the coming weeks and months so that civil society groups can focus on the vital work of supporting some of the most vulnerable people in our communities.
We understand that there will be times when staff and volunteers will not be available, when beneficiaries may need services to be provided in different ways, or when systems need to be flexible to ensure that needs are met.
We understand that some groups are considering how they may need to manage planned activity in relation to Coronavirus (Covid-19).
We hope that your funded activity will be able to go ahead as planned. Charities and voluntary sector organisations play a vital role in communities when external events like this happen, and our aim is to ensure as much of this important work as possible can continue. However, we recognise that depending on how you operate and who you work with, you might need to make some changes to planned activity.
The government guidance you should consider is here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-information-for-the-public
If your community, services or organisation are affected by the covid-19 outbreak, and you receive funding from us, we are committed to supporting you by being flexible.
If activity has to be delayed: Please let us know in advance if activity is significantly delayed. We’ll be happy to extend the grant period and delay the date on which your end of grant report is due accordingly;
- If activity has to be altered: Please let us know if you need to alter the activity which you were planning to deliver, finding alternative ways of achieving your intended outcomes. If the changes involve a significant change to your budget, please do contact us before committing to the revised expenditure.
If activity can’t go ahead and grant money is unspent: please let us know as early as possible. We’ll expect you to return to us any portion of the grant which will not now be spent; If grant money is spent but doesn’t achieve expected outcomes, we’ll be understanding of the extenuating circumstances. Again, please do keep us in the loop. We’ll expect you to make best endeavours to achieve the outcomes as planned, but in the circumstances we understand this may not be possible. We also understand that some costs are fixed, and will be incurred even if you cancel or rearrange activity. So long as you keep us informed, and use your end of grant report to explain why you weren’t able to deliver the planned activities or achieve the anticipated outcomes, we’ll be understanding of this.
If your end of grant monitoring report is due imminently – We recognise that during this difficult period we do not wish to add additional pressure. So we are delaying the return of all end of grant monitoring evaluation reporting for three months
We also recognise that there may be further shocks to the system caused by covid-19 that may impact on your other income streams, or require a more urgent response from funders. Where we have any news on emergency funding we commit to publishing this on our web page so you can see all available programmes in one place.
We will of course, endeavour to inform you in the event of any further developments.
You can contact the Grants Team by email at info@heartofenglandcf.co.uk