Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation announced further funding of $555,0000 to support the charitable and not-for-profit sector during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This rapid response philanthropic funding is in addition to the $250,000 grant provided to Alfred Health’s Infectious Diseases Unit.

The grants were provided to six not-for-profit organisations across homelessness, health and social enterprise sectors to help combat the impact of COVID-19 and ensure vulnerable people and communities are supported during this devastating time.

The Foundation’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr Catherine Brown OAM, said “We have funded organisations to scale-up their capacity to meet the new and increased demand for support in response to some of the challenges Victorians are facing during the COVID-19 crisis.”

The scale and unique nature of the pandemic has required an extraordinary and rapid response by the Foundation to requests for funding. With standard philanthropic grant rounds taking many months for processing and approval, the Foundation’s staff and Board worked collaboratively to have the grants approved within two weeks of applications being received.

“The organisations we have funded are inspiring. Many of them have mobilised their networks to apply a co-ordinated approach in tackling the challenges of COVID-19. Our program managers worked with each grant recipient to ensure that these projects were fast tracked through the granting process, and that connections and collaborations would meet current community needs,” added Dr Brown.

The projects vary in range and include grants to Justice Connect and Infoxchange to increase their capacity to provide legal information for an online self-help hub and increased online resources through Ask Izzy; a grant to STREAT to co-ordinate a network of food social enterprises to increase their capacity to provide food to vulnerable communities; a grant to Foodbank to enable them to purchase essential food items, a grant to Gather My Crew to establish three new support and kindness crews, and a grant to Contemporary Arts Precinct to support artist tenancies at Collingwood Yards.

“The grants are providing essential food items and meals to vulnerable communities, as well as bringing online resources and information about homelessness, social connection, and health services to people and communities affected by COVID-19, not just in Melbourne but right across Victoria and Australia.

“I would like to acknowledge the incredible work of these charitable organisations. They are providing essential and important services as well as applying their creativity to support the community and build organisational resilient during this very challenging time,” added Dr Brown.

Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation has launched a COVID-19 Community Resilience Fund Account to continue supporting critically important charitable and health organisations