Scrabbling for funds as demand soars is charities' grim reality today

GOOD CAUSES GOING UNDER IN TROUBLED TIMES

- By LOUIS CORBETT

CHARITIES across Nottingham are echoing the same message: funding has never been lower, and demand has never been higher.

While charities have regularly voiced that they have struggled with funding, their recent calls for more support may actually be the final straw, with some of the city's most influential and well-established charities only months away from shutting up shop.

From outreach projects helping the city's most deprived to young people's counselling services, the struggle has not been fixated on one specific area. Base 51, the Pythian Club, Bridges Community Trust, Chayah Development Project, Power Up and more are all struggling to make ends meet to the point where some staff have gone unpaid or been made redundant.

Recent examples include Base 51 reporting losing 40% of their funding, the Pythian Club months away from closure, Bridges Community Trust ceasing operations at the end of May and as well as many more charities signalling they are on the same path.

So, what has changed? Well, once Nottingham City Council announced they were issuing a section 114 notice, the funding stream seemingly halted. To this day, charities that once relied upon the crutch of council funding have had to make ends meet through private donations or grants.

While these may help, they represent a fraction of what they received before the changes. Key players in Nottingham's third sector have spoken out, claiming that the dire situation has very much been felt locally.

Hyacinth Francis, of the Chayah Development Project, said: "The funding situation has been bleak and dire. We have lost staff members because we can't guarantee their future. We lost one staff member who has been with us almost from the very start. She was first a service user, then a volunteer, and she then joined us for ten years before I was forced to let her go. It's a bleak outlook.