The ‘Value of Small’ in a Big Crisis: The distinctive contribution, value and experiences of smaller charities in England and Wales during the COVID 19 pandemic (original) (raw)

2021, Sheffield Hallam University, Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research

Small and local charities-those with an income under £1 million-were at the heart of the community response to the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. They demonstrated tremendous energy, flexibility and professionalism to understand the implications of the crisis and continuously adapt their provision in response to the everchanging needs and circumstances of their local communities. During the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic smaller charities worked flexibly to respond quickly to the implications of the crisis. In essence, they 'showed up' and then 'stuck around', using their position of trust within communities experiencing complex social issues to support people when they were needed most. This is in contrast to parts of the public sector, who were slower to react, and to informal support and mutual aid, which has dissipated over time. The service offer of smaller charities was concentrated on addressing four main areas of need-access to food, isolation and loneliness, information and mental health/ wellbeing-and was tailored to different groups experiencing complex social issues. They found multiple ways to maintain human contact by checking up on people, keeping in touch with them and connecting them to one another wherever possible. Who smaller charities worked with was particularly distinctive, as they acted as a channel of support for groups and communities where having a relationship of trust was especially critical and whose needs tended to be less well served by mainstream provision even though they were more likely to be adversely affected by impacts of COVID-19, such as ethnicity, poverty and pre-existing health inequalities. quickly & they worked flexibly showed up small charities stuck around &