Charities get £1m cash boost thanks to Evening Standard fund

Charities fighting poverty and exclusion across London have been awarded grants in a bumper £1 million payout from the Evening Standard Dispossessed Fund — taking the total given out to a record £9 million.

Today’s bonanza, the result of our fourth £1 million partnership with Comic Relief, marks out the Dispossessed Fund as one of London’s premier grant providers and an influential champion for social change.

Sixty-eight charities were given grants of up to £20,000. They were selected for the transformative work they do to help the most vulnerable Londoners.

Since the Dispossessed Fund was set up five years ago, 915 grants have been awarded helping more than 130,000 people.

This year has seen a huge spike in applications from food banks and legal aid centres, reflecting the impact of

austerity and benefit cuts on London’s poorest families.

It was also our most competitive funding round yet: we were six times oversubscribed, with 326 charities from 32 boroughs seeking grants totalling £6.2 million from our £1 million pot.

Kevin Cahill, chief executive of Comic Relief, said: “This year there was a record number of applications and the quality of those shortlisted was the highest standard yet.

“I am inspired when I think of the number of individuals working at grassroots to help Londoners facing such diverse challenges, from gang and knife crime to hunger, homelessness, isolation and poor mental health. The Fund is unique for tackling such a wide range of issues. That’s why Comic Relief wanted to work with the Standard for the fourth year running.”

Evgeny Lebedev, owner of the Standard and patron of the Dispossessed Fund, said: “We have to thank you, our readers, who put your hands in your pockets for Comic Relief in your thousands. It is because of your unfailing generosity that we can make such a substantial offer to help inspirational charitable groups like these.”

The total disbursement of £9 million is the most money ever given out by a newspaper-led charity in the history of the British press. All in all, the Dispossessed Fund has raised £13.46 million since it was set up in 2010.