Jewish social care charities face £6.5 million income loss, JLC predicts
Organisations surveyed by the Jewish Leadership Council (JLC) face increased costs of £2.6m incurred by the coronavirus pandemic
The community’s social care charities are staring down the barrel of a minimum income loss of close to £6.5 million from halted routine fundraising, new estimates suggest.
Charities surveyed by the Jewish Leadership Council (JLC) face increased costs of £2.6m incurred by the coronavirus pandemic. They have so far secured savings of nearly £3.4m and allocated reserves of more than £1.3m to continue essential services, according to the JLC.
The umbrella body released its stark estimates today as it announced the first 20 recipient organisations of its Social Care Assistance Fund, which include leading charities such as Jewish Women’s Aid, Norwood, Jami, Camp Simcha, Chai Cancer Care, Kisharon and the Langdon Foundation.
Other beneficiaries include the Fed in Greater Manchester, which has delivered 9,500 hours of telephone support in April and May, the Friendship Circle, which is a social space for over 130 people with disabilities in Manchester and the social care provider Jewish Care Scotland.
Another grant recipient is the Stamford Hill-based charity Step by Step, which has delivered more than 900 meals to families and given more than 200 activity packages to children and young people with disabilities.
The JLC, which has so far raised close to £1.5m of its £2m target, is appealing for more donations on its website.
“Charities are facing increased costs for extra expert care, measures to enable safe continuation of counselling, physical therapy and face-to-face contact with those most at risk, and more one-to-one support for those that would usually access group activities,” read a statement from the JLC.
“Many are providing additional practical assistance including safe transport for immune compromised children to hospital, kosher food to thousands of ill or isolated people and technology to ensure access to online support and programming. Our fund seeks to address the immediate and additional increased costs of providing care during the pandemic and these challenges are quite stark,” it said.
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