Small charities that help families with short term money issues.

[tramtracks]

Does anyone know of any charities where donors can effectively gift to working families who are struggling whilst the children are young. Not large organised ones - but really small ones where say someone could gift for example, £200/month to help out people really in need for a shortish time - or pay of their debts etc. I’d like to do this - now I’m older and my children have left home. But put off by gifting to large charities paying ceos £200k a year etc.

It sounds like a really kind thing to do. I wonder if talking to local church would help. Ours does food parcels and small one off grants to help people out in financial strife ( you don’t need to be in the congregation). I feel like they’d know a family who could do with that sort of help and could manage it anonymously.

Homeostatic
Gingerbread
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Homestart

There are also charities through which you can buy a Christmas present for a child which I think is also nice if that's something you'd like to do. We got a boy aged 4 last year and my DC and I chose a pyjama set, a book and some lego for him. We gave the presents to the charity who wrapped them and delivered them. I found out about it walking through Westfield - I'm trying to remember their name!

Ah that’s a lovely idea. Our primary school in a very mixed area helps struggling families with a good bank, second hand uniform via the pta and at Christmas, so that’s where I route my Christmas donation and so does my very generous mum who lives a long way away

It's a really nice idea but I don't think I would give actual money. Once I've always thought, after being an A-level teacher, as how many children need a lump sum when they start university particularly if they are away from home. That would be a really nice thing to do, to contact your local school and ask if anyone is in that position.

You could ask your local Round Table/Rotary/Lions.
They may work with agencies like the Citizens Advice Bureau who can identify those in need e.g. families struggling to cover school uniform costs.

Contact your local branch of cap (Christians against poverty) they work with people of all faiths and none, and they will know if local grant making bodies or projects. Gifting a laptop to students without heading to university, tools for youngsters stating apprenticeships etc is another thought as they can fall through the cracks, tools old for child benefits but barely earning

That is really generous.
As a working single parent barely scraping by if there was a scheme for this I would sign up.
Most charities/grant schemes will only help those not working or you have to get a referral from a support worker.
It’s difficult when an unexpected cost comes up (like washing machine breaking down) and you can’t afford to replace it and can’t get a grant as you earn too much. Then you have to take credit out to purchase thus increasing your monthly outgoings.
on paper some can be earning a decent amount but with the cost of food constantly going up it’s harder to make ends meet.

Maybe see if a place local to you offers small grants?

Search the Turn2Us grant finder. That will give a list of hundreds of small and not so small grant awarding bodies.

Family friends set up a scholarship with our county school music service, for music lessons for a certain number of children who would not be able to access them otherwise. There are some conditions, and eligibility criteria, but it’s benefitting some really deserving children.

Acts 435 is a really great charity for this. They make small grants to people for something specific (e.g. a washing machine for a woman who’s setting up home after fleeing domestic violence or a sofa for someone moving on from supported accommodation). Donors can give a contribution (or the full amount) towards a specific request and 100% of the money will go to the recipient.

(Edited to add that you can refine your search when looking through requests, so if you want to focus on helping families/children it’s easy to find requests in that category).

Thanks so much everyone. These are brilliant suggestions.