The Company has spent the last few years listening carefully to its charity partners. On charity visits and in conversations with charity leaders, we have proactively and intentionally set out to better understand the challenges facing them.
We know that running a charity has never been easy, but recent years have presented what some describe as a ‘perfect storm’. The Covid-19 pandemic, cost-of-living crisis, rising inflation, reduced funding, and increased community needs mean charities are shifting from one crisis to the next.
The leaders of our charity partners have been sharing these challenges with us, from their own contexts and experience.
How could we fund charity partners – above the usual grant-making process – in such a way that would help make them more resilient to the external context?
A Small Fund with mighty impact
The Charities Committee agreed to pilot a Resilience Fund in 2024-2025. The fund was small, just £20,000. But it was mighty in terms of meeting the needs of charities, to help ensure sustainability, growth and succession.
This is just a small handful of example of the funding delivered by the Resilience Fund in 2025:
- Parent Skills 2 Go: Strategic away day to strengthen the senior team for growth and succession planning.
- Adult Literacy Trust: Volunteer management system to automate reporting, improve volunteer support, and prepare for sustainable growth.
- Free to be Kids: Management training to help staff with lived experience succeed in senior roles and ensure effective, sustainable leadership.
These investments are notoriously hard to fundraise for. When charities are forced to use precious core funds for essential infrastructure, simply keeping services running becomes even harder.
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Looking ahead:
The Resilience Fund is now an established and exceptional part of the Company’s grant-making – fund that are easy to apply for and yet instrumental in securing the future of our charity partners.
The fund has been increased to £25,000 in 2026 and promises to continue to deliver transformation for our charity partners. This is the Haberdashers’ Advantage in action.
