Oglesby Charitable Trust – Covid-19 statement, March 2020

We at the Oglesby Charitable Trust recognise that the Covid-19 outbreak is likely to have a negative impact on the charitable organisations and activities we support, and consequently for the communities we collectively serve.  As significant mass events, meetings and opportunities for sector collaboration are cancelled and postponed, we would like to offer reassurance that our approach continues to be one of solidarity with the sector and that we will aim to be as helpful as possible during this time.  We are signatories to a broader funder pledge, which can be found in full here.

In summary, if your community, services or organisation are affected by the Covid-19 outbreak, and you receive grant funding from us, we are committed to:

• Adapting activities – to respond to emerging needs in place of planned activity where necessary;
• Discussing dates – flexibility with reporting and other deadlines;
• Financial flexibility – we are willing to discuss repurposing planned expenditure if necessary to help cover staff absence etc;
• Listening to you – as a small team in a sector working in an unpredictable climate, we encourage you to contact us over email initially if you need discuss how Covid-19 is impacting your work. 

We would also like to reassure our grant recipients that the Oglesby Charitable Trust team are able to work remotely and therefore – whilst certain meetings may not take place – we do not anticipate any significant delays or disruptions to our funding relationships.