Lloyds Banking Group and its four charitable Foundations have launched a joint Financial Resilience fund, offering £4.2 million to help people in financial hardship. The funding will go to charities who can help these people gain confidence and skills to manage their finances, reduce reliance on debt and achieve long-term financial stability. Only invited charities may apply.
The fund was set up following research from Lloyds Banking Group and the charitable Foundations which found that in the past three years, 4.3 million individuals have sought assistance from UK charities due to financial hardship. Previous research has shown that the most financially vulnerable in society are more likely to turn to a charity than to their bank for help with their finances.
The research showed that charities are the second most trusted source of advice after family. Of those surveyed, 90% of people who have visited charities and received financial support were satisfied and are significantly more likely to say that they feel more financially stable than before, compared to those who haven’t visited charities.
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Despite this, charities still face a lack of funding, staff capacity and resource meaning that they feel less able to deliver the services that they would like.
Funding for charities
The Financial Resilience fund will reach charities through the Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales, Lloyds Bank Foundation for the Channel Islands, Bank of Scotland Foundation and Halifax Foundation for Northern Ireland.
Each of the four Foundations will receive a portion of the £4.2 million and will make a total of 57 grants which are expected over the next two to three years.
The fund is only open to registered charities that have been invited to apply by the Foundation.
The fund will have two distinct strategies of support that charities can access, ‘overcoming setbacks’ for individuals in particular circumstances relating to debt or financial distress and ‘establishing a foothold’ which will encompass more general advice and financial support.
The aim of the fund is to reach people in new settings, for example via foodbanks or as part of mental health recovery.
Every charity that is supported through the fund will have access to Lloyds Banking Group’s Academy resources and skilled staff as mentors and coaches.
Lloyds Banking Group has a long-standing commitment to supporting the charity sector, having donated £800 million to its charitable Foundations over the last 40 years enabling them to support nearly 70,000 charities across the UK and Channel Islands.
The Group has also committed to provide £100 million to the Foundations by 2030.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.
