Cost of Living Day of Action
17 November
For recordings of some of the sessions that took place head to our YouTube channel
Joining forces to help London’s communities
While living costs in the capital continue to rise, there is a clear need to step up collective efforts to mitigate the risks to London’s communities. In this session, we heard from London Community Response about their ‘Together for London’ appeal whose aim is to raise funds and give out small emergency grants to community organisations and charities to support them in meeting the needs of their communities and help them keep their doors open.
London Community Foundation shared more information about the appeal, how funders can contribute to it and why a collaborative approach is needed to help tackle the cost of living crisis.
Why becoming a London Living Wage funder is more critical than ever
Our recent report into funders’ response to the cost of living crisis showed a significant concern about how charities’ own staff are being impacted by rising living costs. We know low pay is already a significant issue in the third sector and is only likely to be worse in the face of this crisis.
A key action that funders can take to help mitigate this is to become a Living Wage Funder, committing to funding staff roles at the real Living Wage or higher and encouraging grantees to become Living Wage Employers. In this session we heard from some of the funders who have already signed up to become a Living Wage funder, how they did it, and the challenges and opportunities they have faced by signing up.
What funders can do to support migrants through the cost of living crisis
When living costs rise, people who already face economic insecurity and hardship will struggle even more. This is especially the case for migrants and asylum seekers, who face additional barriers like restrictions on visas, recourse to public funds, or having to pay thousands of pounds in visa fees.
We were be joined by the Greater London Authority to discuss how migrants are more at risk during the cost of living crisis, how they are responding, and how funders can take into account the impact on migrants in their response to the cost of living crisis.
Actions funders can take to support advice services
As more people struggle to get by, access to advice services is even more important. Together with London Legal Support Trust we discussed what action they’re taking to provide additional support for legal advice services and what else funders can do to support access to advice through the crisis.
Please note that our events are for London Funders members only. You can read more about becoming a member here.