The GlobalGiving UK Flex Fund

As I reflect on the past year, I’m struck by the strength and perseverance of the communities we have had the privilege to support. In a time of immense financial strain, your partnership with GlobalGiving has enabled us to reach those hit hardest by the cost-of-living crisis alongside countless other challenges across the globe. Each organisation in our network plays a crucial role in supporting those who need it most, and the dedication and hard work behind these efforts are truly inspiring.

In response to the UK’s cost-of-living crisis, GlobalGiving issued 18 grants in two grant rounds in 2023 and 2024 to high impact community-led nonprofits responding to rising community needs during this crisis. With a contribution of approx. £50,000, your donation to our Flex Fund has helped to support several impactful partners, including:

• Be Enriched has provided healthy, affordable meals through Community Canteens, creating supportive spaces for those facing food insecurity.
• Generating Genius has enabled Black African and Caribbean students to access crucial educational resources, ensuring they can continue to strive toward successful careers in STEM fields.
• Central London Samaritans has offered compassionate, round-the-clock emotional support to individuals in crisis, helping people to manage their mental health in these especially difficult times.
• Rosa is dedicated to supporting initiatives that promote equality and justice for women and girls across the UK.

Beyond the UK, this Fund has also contributed to matching campaigns supporting a range of initiatives addressing critical global issues. These causes include health, education, food security, climate action, racial justice and gender equality, impacting lives in many countries worldwide. Matching funds have amplified donations, creating an even broader impact through local initiatives that address varied community needs.

You may have noticed that the name of this Fund has changed. What was originally called the GlobalGiving UK Innovation Fund is now the GlobalGiving UK Flex Fund—a name that more accurately reflects its purpose. However, while the name has evolved, the Fund’s purpose remains exactly as it always has been: to provide essential, flexible funding to GlobalGiving UK and our vetted nonprofit partners worldwide. This change does not alter donor intent or the Fund's commitment to enabling innovation, responsiveness in the face of challenges, and delivering the most impactful support possible for our partners.

I hope this report offers a glimpse into the incredible work we’re doing together, and I look forward to all that we will continue to achieve as we support communities in building brighter, stronger futures.

With gratitude,

Alex Ritchie

GlobalGiving UK CEO

• Read GlobalGiving UK's Annual Impact Report 2023 (PDF)
  

Dear friends,

“We are creative, hardworking and persistently optimistic that the world can be a better place for all” is what you can read these days in the Out of Office message of our CEO Eleanor Harrison (lucky to be spending time in Kenya also visiting some great GlobalGiving UK partner charities).

So what are the rest of the team stuck in the London office working on to justify the “creative, hardworking and persistently optimistic” statement?

We will give you just couple of examples, and you can judge if that statement stands.

Gateway Challenge: How we support new charities fundraise online

Hundreds of charities applied to join our Gateway Challenge, a fundraising competition that runs from 17^th November to 23^rd December. Needless to say, we spent many hours vetting their documentation and were happy to approve 43 applications from charities all around the world doing excellent work in their communities. After the vetting stage, we ran a month-long online training program to prepare the successful applicants for the challenge ahead and held a very successful workshop in London. All organisations participating in the Gateway Challenge that raise over £2000 from at least 50 donations until 23^rd December will become GlobalGiving UK partners.  

See them here. 25 days to go and they have already raised over £26,000. IDEALS, the organisation providing healthcare to Syrian refugees in Lebanon is currently in the lead. Breakthrough Trust, supporting girls in India, is only 4 donors away from passing the challenge. Great work! 

GlobalGivingTime: How we get hundreds of students to help our charities online

Next Tuesday, on the 2nd December, we will be running a UK-wide volunteering competition with hundreds of skilled volunteers using GlobalGivingTime, our online micro-volunteering platform. GlobalGivingTime volunteers helps our project partners with those technical, skilled tasks that they need help with. Volunteers, rather than offering money, offer their expertise and make an immediate, measurable difference to the work of grassroots organisations all over the world. We can’t wait to see how they interact this Tuesday, our charity partners have already posted 80 tasks they need help with!

Grassroots Leadership Programme: How students help us raise awareness of our programmes and we help them become more employable

Our student volunteering programme has just launched. Over the next year we will be working with 13 motivated and committed volunteers from universities in London, providing them with training so that they can raise awareness and funds for our great grassroots partners. In return, the students will gain employable skills like organisation, teamwork and leadership that will set them up for a job in this sector once they have finished university. We see these passionate young people as the grassroots leaders of tomorrow.

How we get great corporate partners to support our partner charities

On 4^th November, Nokia held a Senior Leaders Event in Berlin at which each delegate were given a choice of three GlobalGiving UK projects which they could sponsor with a gift of €1,000. The theme was to demonstrate Nokia’s commitment to technology that meets real human need. And the total sum to be gifted amounted to no less than €250,000.

Nokia approached GlobalGiving UK to suggest appropriate charities, organise a filmed presentation, and, finally, arrange the disbursements. We were given short notice and had just over two weeks in which to complete the project.

The first project selected is based in Rwanda. The objective is to promote employment through the sponsorship of young tech entrepreneurs. The goal of the second, in Ghana, is help to over 1,800 children progress to secondary school through the use of solar charged tablets and mobile libraries. Finally, in Mexico, where lack of access to the internet results in 75% of students never completing high school, the ambition is to open digital e-learning centres to connect and inspire poor communities currently excluded.

Calling on the resources of professional volunteers and with the amazing patience and speed of reaction of the charities involved, we were able successfully to deliver the required materials on time. The outcome was the projects in the individual countries gained the following percentages of the total: Mexico: 29.4%, Ghana: 45.9%, and Rwanda 24.7% of the €250,000 amount. Needless to say, the charities were thrilled with receiving this funding and we could not been happier we connected those who have the means to help to those who need help the most.

We are working on many more programmes to make sure our wonderful charity partners thrive, but we will save some stories for the next report.

Thank you very much for supporting our work.