Words by Smiley Team
Do it Now Now - an open innovation organisation empowering Black communities globally - has announced the launch of the Common Call fund, created to support Black-led charities and social enterprises making a difference in their local communities across the UK.
Those organisations who are eligible can apply for unrestricted grant support ranging from £1K-£3K which will come with 1 year of support. This money will help them bridge the gap that the COVID-19 crisis created in their organisation’s trajectory, while also providing them with access to key experts and peers that can help them grow their work sustainably and effectively in the future.
Set up with funds raised from Paul Hamlyn Foundation, the Common Call fund is designed to support organisations that are creating impact in deprived communities and providing services to people that have been adversely affected by the COVID-19 crisis in terms of their physical health, mental health and/or financially. The Common Call fund strives to redress the balance by giving financial support and wrap-around support to Black-led organisations.
Bayo Adelaja, Fund Manager, comments “When a financial crisis hits, the Black people that are sacrificing portions of their salaries and their time to increase opportunities for social mobility for other Black people are no longer able to do so.
Common Call aims to socially empower Black people to actively engage in the communities in which they live and to create a positive impact on their families.”
“Our goal is to make it easier for Black people with lived experience of key issues in their communities to build and sustain social enterprises and charitable organisations that solve the problems they had to fight to overcome. The beneficiaries of the organisations we fund will primarily be people that identify as Black or Mixed with Black.”
Do it Now Now supports Black people in the UK seeking to make a significant difference in their communities by bridging the resource gaps caused by underfunding and under-resourcing. Black people are disproportionately affected by financial recessions and this negative impact spreads deep into the 19.6% of the total Black population that live in the UK.
Moira Sinclair, Chief Executive, Paul Hamlyn Foundation, said: "It is clear that the effects of this pandemic are not falling equally, and this is true for organisations as much as it is for individuals. We are therefore delighted to be supporting the Common Call fund, which will support Black-led social enterprises and charities not only to survive the impact of the pandemic, but to thrive. We look forward to seeing the impact of the Common Call fund, both in communities now, and in the longer term."
The first round of applications is open throughout August 2020 and funds will be disbursed in October 2020. Applications should be made on the Common Call website - www.commoncall.fund
