Coronavirus (COVID-19): civil society support
Please note that we will be updating this page regularly.
Supporting civil society organisations
We are aware that coronavirus (COVID-19) has affected civil society organisations and the people they support.
Civil society plays a crucial role in supporting London's communities and the work of charities, faith organisations, un-constituted groups and volunteers must be protected. Below, we have provided information on available resources to support civil society through the coronavirus outbreak. Please also read the government's guidance on enabling safe volunteering.
If you are a volunteer looking for ways to safely support London's communities during the coronavirus pandemic, please visit our volunteering page.
Support for civil society organisations
We are working to ensure we can help you to continue to operate during this difficult time. We are doing this in a number of ways. Please read our FAQ section below for more information on support available.
The Mayor of London has contributed close to £10m to the London Community Response to help the capital’s community and voluntary organisations.
Since it was founded in March 2020, the London Community Response has been a beacon of philanthropic cooperation in the capital. More than 66 funders have contributed including the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime who provided a donation of £500,000 to tackle domestic violence. The coalition has enabled more than 2600 grants to be issued to initiatives across the city including Sustain: The Alliance For Better Food And Farming and The Magic Breakfast, which provides healthy school breakfasts to children at risk of hunger. Many beneficiaries of grants have been disabled Londoners, women and Black, Asian and minority ethnic-led initiatives with a recent City Hall study* affirming these groups are among those worst affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Additional funding from City Bridge Trust, Bloomberg, Trust for London and others, has brought the total fund to £42m since it was established.
Here are some additional funds available across London.
The Law Works Not-for-Profits programme brokers legal advice to small not-for-profit organisations on a wide range of legal issues, to support the continuation and expansion of their services to people in need. The advice is given for free. Eligible organisations can receive one-off legal advice on intellectual property, employment, property, tax, commercial/contract, insurance, insolvency, data protection, defamation, and company law. Their volunteers can also advise on amending or updating articles.
Join the London Community Response Survey cohort and contribute to the collective understanding of challenges and opportunities facing London’s communities and civil society organisations.
Complete the five-minute, bi-monthly survey and be part of a cohort of over 350 organisations reporting directly to civil society and strategic bodies across London.
To join the cohort, complete this onboarding survey and you will be sent the next available survey.
Superhighways have created some useful guides for getting started with Microsoft Teams. Including an introduction to Teams and how to use the chat, calls and meetings functions.
CAST (Centre for Acceleration of Social Technology) is a charity working to help people use digital for social good.
They are working hard to support charities to use digital tools to ensure business continuity and provide support to the communities you work with online. They have developed a wide-ranging offer including free consultations and guides:
Digital Candle: a free 1hr consultation with a digital expert.
Catalyst, a new UK collaborative to massively accelerate UK civil society’s use of digital, have also created and collated various guides to support charities at this time. They have a range of guides around How to choose the right video calling tool for your charity and then getting started with Zoom, Google Hangouts and Skype
The Mayor is committed to ensuring the needs of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) are heard at this time and supported to continue delivering their essential services.
As a funder The Mayor has signed up to the London Funders statement to stand with the sector in this time of crisis
On 2 April. the Mayor wrote to the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak calling for more support for the voluntary sector during the coronavirus crisis.
Over the past month, the Greater London Authority (GLA) has carried out intelligence gathering on the impact of Covid-19 with civil society stakeholders who are either grant recipients, commissioned delivery partners, members of GLA Strategic Partnership forums or member of the various civil society networks that support the Mayor’s programmes across London. We have directly spoken to over 150 CSOs. We are also sending a weekly COVID-19 Community Response Survey to almost 200 CSOs who work across London to understand the impact on Covid-19 and associated policy measures on vulnerable populations in the capital. Furthermore, we are also carrying out sector-specific intelligence gathering, such as a survey of environment CSOs.
Policy teams at the GLA are currently working on a submission to the DCMS inquiry with specific asks informed by our intelligence gathering work, which seek to support and facilitate CSOs who have stepped up to support the most vulnerable Londoners whilst being financially stretched and close to collapse. The submission aims to call for CSOs to be valued for their essential role in our society, giving them the agency and resources they need as we move into recovery.
Faith communities play a vital role in supporting Londoners in times of need. The GLA is working with a wide range of faith organisations to coordinate support across London, including the London Resilience Faith Sector Panel, London Boroughs Faiths Network and Faiths Forum for London.
If you would like to find out more please email [email protected]
On our Coronavirus advice and guidance hub you will find a page dedicated to information on COVID-19 for non-UK nationals and our Employments Rights Hub translated guidance.
This page includes information on access to healthcare, visa and immigration advice and the EU settlement scheme.
You will also find links to the World Health Organisation’s own language resources, which are in French, Chinese, Arabic, Russian and Spanish.
Doctors of the world are also producing their own language advice about coronavirus for patients in a range of languages.
Organisations may have concerns about breaching GDPR rules when using volunteer data to coordinate support during the coronavirus outbreak. Follow this advice from DataKind UK:
- only store data from volunteers (never of people who need help) and what they can offer. This should be done with a simple GDPR-compliant form
- make a centralised part of your group responsible for dealing with incoming requests, this will help manage risk assessment and minimisation. Read this sample risk assessment spreadsheet
- read the ICO's blog about data protection for community groups during coronavirus (COVID-19).
The National Food Service, NCVO and Mutual Aid groups also have information about remaining GDPR compliant during the coronavirus outbreak.
Pan London useful contacts
Samaritans 24 hr helpline number: 116 123
- find a mental health emergency helpline near you
- emergency mental health support - text ‘SHOUT’ to 85258
- mental health support - call the Crisis Team on 0800 151 0023.
- find your local Mutual Aid group
- find your local Volunteer Centre
- find emergency Christmas/bank holiday support.