Survey on Kent and Medway's Charitable Sector, November 2020

Follow up survey of the charitable sector in Kent and Medway reveals that demand for services has risen again while 40% say their service offering has decreased since first national lockdown

In May 2020, we invited charities and community groups to complete a survey about how the Coronavirus pandemic has affected them and their thoughts on the months ahead. This month, we have asked the sector to once again provide insight into what is happening and how we can help.

While the positive news is that 43% of respondents said that their service offering had increased since 23 March 2020, there are still 40% who have said their offering has decreased at a time when almost 60% say they have seen an increase in demand. Of those that said their service offering had decreased, 7% said it had decreased by 100% - back in May 2020 that number was 27%, suggesting there are organisations who have found ways to operate again. 

Sadly almost a fifth (19%) said they had made redundancies, which is slightly higher than the number who, back in May 2020, said it was likely or very likely they would make redundancies (13%). 1 out of 10 respondents in November's survey said it was likely or very likely that they would make redundancies. Forty per cent said that they have furloughed staff. 

Despite the obvious challenges, in the most recent survey over half (53%) said that the number of beneficiaries had increased. 

Other key points

• There were no big changes in confidence of being in operation in the coming months:
• In May 2020, 14% said their confidence about being in operation by August 2020 was 50% or below. Today, the number who are 50% or less confident about being in operation by March 2021 was 11%. 
• Demand for services has increased again since May 2020 – in November, 59% said demand had increased Vs 47% in May.
• 46% said they had not accessed any government COVID funding or support measures.
• Most of those who had, noted furlough and a quarter said Small Business Grant Fund (+10% compared to May 2020).
  
• The number of organisations who have accessed national or local funding sources has increased from 47% in May 2020 to almost three quarters (71%) in November 2020.
• Again, 68% said core funding was the one thing that would help them to recover and sustain - this is the same figure in May 2020 - and 9% said networking and collaboration. 

View the results as an image here