DMA acclaimed for key role in £750m charity bail-out

The Advertising Association has given its backing to the Government’s £750m Covid-19 emergency funding package for charities, although most in the third sector insist far more needs to be done to plug a potential £4.3bn shortfall.

AA chief executive Stephen Woodford said his organisation was “grateful to the Chancellor for his bold and positive support for the country’s charities at this time”.

He commented: “The British charity sector does an enormous amount of good for people up and down the country, just as our own industry charity NABS does great work for UK advertising. But, just at the moment charities are needed most, many have suffered due to their shops being closed, sources of income being threatened and means of advertising reducing.”

Woodford added that trade bodies across the industry, notably the DMA, have made the case strongly to Government in recent days for support and that the package announced would hopefully go a great way in helping the charity sector “at a crucial time when its own help is needed by us all”.

Meanwhile, Directory of Social Change chief executive Debra Allcock Tyler said the £750m package was “nowhere near enough – not even close” and claimed that “business matters more than vulnerable citizens” who were dying as a result or the crisis. “This isn’t about charities surviving and it isn’t just about the coronavirus emergency either – it’s about saving people’s lives,” she added.

Institute of Fundraising CEO Peter Lewis said the package was a welcome “first step”, but claimed it was “unlikely to be enough to safeguard many essential services”.

The Unite union also said the money was not enough, and warned that charities were already announcing insolvencies and often did not have the reserves to survive the next three months.

Charities Aid Foundation CEO Sir John Low said the group’s own Coronavirus Emergency Fund for small charities had attracted almost 5,000 applications in just one week and “there is still a long way to go” for charities requiring support.

TOPICS:Advertising Association charity coronavirus DMA