Crisis’ “In This Together” (ITT) small grants programme was set up to support groups and organisations who were financially affected by additional demands on their resources and/or who have expanded their provision to accommodate the exceptional circumstances of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 199 grants jointly worth £998,908.30 were awarded to grantees across the UK.

This report evaluates the Crisis “In This Together” (ITT) small grants programme.

This evaluation aims to document:

(1) the outcomes of the ITT small grants programme and

(2) what worked well for grantees, what challenges they faced and what could be improved.

The evaluation is based on the grantees responses to a survey, which they were asked to complete at the end of their projects.

Key findings:

Overall, the ITT grant has allowed grantees to maintain their services in the face of increasing demand and funding shortfalls, supported them with adapting their service to the pandemic, and allowed them to expand their service reach more clients, or set up a new type of service.

Out of 165 survey respondents:

• 116 grantees (70%) reported using the ITT funding to provide food and emergency supplies to clients. Of these 116 grantees, 81 reported providing these supplies to a combined total of 19,156 beneficiaries. Another 24  grantees reported collectively providing 217,157 meals or parcels (could be given to the same person more than once);
• 76 (46%) grantees used the ITT funds to provide information, advice and guidance services, advocacy and casework to a total of 35,985 beneficiaries.
• 42 (25%) grantees used the funds to provide support and counselling to a total of 5,642 beneficiaries.
• 39 (24%) grantees funded the purchase of IT devices for clients, collectively providing them to 1,051 beneficiaries.
• 35 (21%) used the grant to fund additional cleaning or Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to ensure the operation of their service overall.
• 28 (17%) grantees supported a total of 877 clients into temporary accommodation.
• 24 (15%) supported a total of 1,236 clients into permanent accommodation or prevented their evictions.
• Within these types of activities, three distinct lines of work emerged as a direct response to the COVID-19 pandemic:
  • Providing food and emergency supplies to beneficiaries due to the closure of other services during the lockdown and rising levels of demand;
  • Distributing IT devices to beneficiaries to enable remote operation of services and combat isolation;
  • Working with local authorities during the “Everyone In” emergency programme for rough sleepers to support the beneficiaries’ transition into emergency accommodation.

Reference:

Crisis Research and Evaluation Team. (2021) "In This Together" small grants evaluation. London: Crisis.