Published on: Thursday 18 Jun 2020 at 14:25
Appeal raises £120,000 but the road to recovery is still long
St Clare Hospice’s Urgent Fundraising Appeal, which was launched amidst the coronavirus outbreak, has raised over £120,000 for the hospice charity.
The Urgent Fundraising Appeal was launched in March in an effort to minimise the negative impact of the global Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic on our fundraising efforts. With our voluntary income coming under unprecedented pressure as fundraising events were postponed and our chain of charity shops shut temporarily, we anticipated an immediate £100,000 gap in our voluntary income in the first three months of lockdown.
St Clare Hospice Director of Income Generation, Rosie Knowles, commented: “The response to our Urgent Fundraising Appeal from our local communities has been awe-inspiring. As an independent charity, St Clare is heavily reliant on the support of our local community and we could see in March, just as the pandemic began to unfold, that our voluntary income would be hard-hit. Within just a few days of the appeal we had seen incredible support, with some large anonymous donations coming through off the back of our urgent appeal.
“The response from the local community to our appeal for PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) was also phenomenal, with over 100,000 items donated including scrubs, face masks, visors and hand sanitiser. We have now, thankfully, secured our PPE supply chains with regular orders coming in, but the extra cost of these supplies is something we had not budgeted for.”
Launch of Recovery Fund
“The extra expense of PPE, coupled with the impact of many more weeks of lockdown than we originally expected, has been a double-whammy for us as a healthcare charity. That is why, today, we have launched our Recovery Fund. There is a long road ahead for the Hospice as, in the twelve months from the coronavirus lockdown beginning, we are predicting a £400,000 gap in our usual fundraising income and £200,000 less coming in through our shops and eBay. Although the Urgent Fundraising Appeal has helped to soften the blow, we will still be faced with a potential £600,000 hole.
“£600,000 is the equivalent of not being able to fund our Inpatient Unit, which provides vital care for people with life-limiting conditions and those at the end of their life, for over 15 weeks.
“The Hospice is prepared for challenges to our income such as this, and we have reserves to call on. But this is an unprecedented situation which no one could have predicted and we know that in the coming months our income generation team will be pushed to the limit to ensure we can continue to keep the Hospice running. We need our supporters’ help more than ever at this difficult time. With everyone feeling the economic impacts of coronavirus, we know that people and companies may have less to spare for charities, despite how much they care. But whatever people can donate today to our Recovery Fund will help to ensure that we can continue to be here, providing much needed expert care for the people who need us most.”