1. Disaster Fund Skills Grantmaking Workshop: Hardship Funds
Dr Jenny Benson

2. What I’ll cover IN THE SESSION:
Questions: What do you want to know/get out of this workshop?
Cumbria Community Foundation: Introduction and experience
Focus on Cumbria Flood Recovery Fund 2015
Storm Desmond
Appeal aim & priorities
Who to work with?
Grantmaking phases
What to prepare?
What to consider?
Questions: Everything covered?
Next steps?
Purpose: To be more prepared to manage a disaster fund grantmaking programme

3. Cumbria Community Foundation
About:
Established 1999
Awarded more than £44m in grants
Long term funds of £20m.
More than 90 active grant making funds
Supported 4,000 groups and 8,000 individuals.
National Grant Making Award 2015 – Neighbourhood Care Independence Programme
Major Disaster Appeals:
Foot & Mouth Disease 2001: £2.1m
Carlisle Floods 2005: £860K
Cockermouth & Keswick Floods 2009: £3m
Storm Desmond Floods 2015: £10.3m
Cumbria Community Foundation

5. Carlisle - after Storm Desmond, December 2015

6. Storm Desmond December 2015: 4 districts affected 5,319 homes flooded 1,029 businesses flooded

7. Cumbria Flood Recovery Coordination Structure
Ministerial Recovery Group
Strategic Recovery Coordination Group
Housing Group
Health & Wellbeing
Communication
Community Recovery Group
Environment
Infrastructure
Business & Economy
Finance
4 x District Community Recovery Groups
Cumbria Community Resilience Network
Cumbria Flood Recovery Coordination Structure
Local Recovery Groups include representatives from County & District Councils, Parish Councils, Third Sector Organisations e.g. CAB/AGE UK/Red Cross, Local Community Recovery Groups and Flood Action Groups, other groups e.g. Rotary, Lions, Churches Together.
KEY: Green box - CCF represented on group

8. Community foundations are natural partners in disaster response and should be part of all multi-agency disaster response.
Who to work with?
Local Resilience Forum
Local Authorities
Statutory organisations e.g. Environment Agency
Strategic recovery coordination groups (multi-agency)
Local community recovery groups
Local third sector organisations e.g. CAB, Age UK, Church Groups, Rotary
Delivery partners e.g. Age UK, Farmer Network
Other funders
Local information is key…..
Working together: Consider: Who is doing what/where? Who do you need to work with? Who can you partner with? What agreements do you need to have in place?

9. What is the aim of your appeal?
The Cumbria Flood Recovery Appeal 2015 was established for charitable purposes in connection with the relief of hardship within the county of Cumbria caused directly or indirectly by storm damage and flooding in December 2015.
Priorities for grant making:
• Individuals and families suffering financial hardship
• Community relief and ‘community rebuilding’ projects
What is the aim of your appeal?
How does it impact on your grantmaking priorities?

10. Definition of Hardship:
The Foundation recognises that anyone whose home has been flooded has suffered hardship.
Hardship can be emotional, physical and financial.
People’s circumstances vary greatly and we assess each application on its own merits.
Higher grant awards will be considered for people who are suffering significant hardship and who are deemed as being particularly vulnerable.
Applicants with complex needs will also be referred to specialist support organisations.
Our Approach “I was spoken to & treated with respect” “CCF made me feel human”

11. Cumbria Flood Recovery Fund: Grant Making
HOUSEHOLDS:
Cumbria Flood Recovery Fund: Grant Making
Hardship
Grants
(Phases 1 & 2)
Resistance & Resilience Top-Up Grants
(Phase 3)
GROUPS:
Flood Damage
Advice & Guidance
Flood Action Groups
Community Rebuilding
Community Resilience
Community Emergency Planning

12. Grantmaking Households: £7.3m awarded to 3,157 households
Phase One: immediate emergency relief
High volume of applications
Light touch assessment, but still a personalised approach
Understand household circumstances/needs (phone call)
Delegated decision making
Smaller grant awards
Quick response expected
Support for the most vulnerable e.g. applying, additional support
Working with partners/local recovery groups/strategic recovery groups
Level of support will be determined by the funds available…
Grantmaking Households: £7.3m awarded to 3,157 households

13. Grantmaking Households: £7.3m awarded to 3,157 households
Phase Two: recovery
Medium volume of applications
More detailed assessment
Personalised & flexible approach – each household is different. Understand household circumstances/needs (phone call).
Larger grant awards/vouchers/payments to contractors
Support the most vulnerable - working with partners/case worker approach
Needs of specific communities e.g. social housing, private tenants, travellers, farmers.
Grant awards may impact on benefit claims – consider DWP guidance and communicate to grant applicant appropriately
Supporting people indirectly affected e.g. loss of income
How will you support your team????
Phase Three: resilience e.g. property level resilience measures
Level of support will be determined by the funds available…
Grantmaking Households: £7.3m awarded to 3,157 households

14. Grantmaking Groups: £2.5m awarded to 168 groups
Which groups should be supported?
Community emergency centres?
Emergency response organisations?
Support and advice organisations?
Disaster affected groups?
Community rebuilding & future resilience?
How do you manage expectations of groups?
How do you encourage partnership working?
Will you cover group costs retrospectively?
Who should you partner with?
Should you delegate areas of grantmaking?
Level of support will be determined by the funds available…
Grantmaking Groups: £2.5m awarded to 168 groups

15. Grant Award & Decision Making Process Overnight Flood Grants Panel
Group Grants:
Main Grants Panel
Individual grants awards over £6K
Ratify all individual grant awards
Group grant awards
Application
Assessment
Individual Grants:
Overnight Flood Grants Panel
Individual Grants:
awards up to £3K (2 members)
awards up to £6K (4 members)
Application
Assessment
(phonecall)

16. Being prepared: What can you set-up and/or think about in advance of a disaster?
Speed of response:
Applications received within days of appeal launch
Expectation to respond quickly
What additional resources do you need to support data input, assessment, approval, grants payments etc?
What training, guidance do you need to have in place?
Helping people to apply:
Clear grantmaking criteria and priorities (who do you say no to?)
FAQs
Individual application form
Group application form
Worked with local partners to support people to apply

17. Things to consider….. Grant payments: Data Sharing: BACs/cheque
Payments to pre-paid cash cards (for people without bank accounts)
Vouchers/Payments to third parties
Phase 1 individuals: how can you pay grants quickly?
Group grants: would you consider retrospective grant awards?
Data Sharing:
Names & addresses of affected households from Local Authorities (ID checks/direct communication)
Checking tenancy details with landlords
Checking employment/loss of income details with employers
Working with partners
Fraudulent claims
What agreements do you need to have in place with Local Authorities etc?
What permissions do you need to seek?
How will you seek/record permissions (on application form or part of assessment process)?
Have you considered GDPR compliance?
Things to consider…..

18. Things to consider….. Needs of specific communities: Communication:
How do you support specific communities e.g. farmers, travellers?
Communication:
How do you encourage people to apply?
How do you manage expectations and demands from press, social media etc.?
How do you keep stakeholders informed of progress/direction of travel?
FAQs and useful information for applicants?
Support for small business owners/landlords?
Hardship to the household?
Hardship funds?
Legal advice taken for supporting businesses?
Things to consider…..

19. Things to consider….. Changes over times: Fraudulent Claims:
How will you record changes to grantmaking policies and processes?
Who do you need to inform of any changes?
How will you identify and manage the risks?
Fraudulent Claims:
Identification
Policy
Monitoring and Evaluation:
Evidence of spend?
How will you monitor the programme?
How will you evaluate the programme?
Things to consider…..

20. Resources:
Reports:
Cumbria Flood Recovery Fund 2015 Report & Case Studies
Transatlantic CF Network Disaster Appeal Toolkit (2007)
Plan ahead:
Generic Guidance inc. Appeal Document and application forms
MOUs (CCF & Quartet CF)
Planning checklists: Cumbria CF and Quartet CF
Follow-up questions?
Jenny Benson Tel:

21. Why its worth it…….