#SaveOurSector – please write to your MP today

Charities are at the frontline of dealing with the COVID19 crisis across the UK and are doing everything they can to maintain critical services and respond to community needs. However, this crisis has generated massive financial and demand pressures on charities and other social sector organisations at extremely short notice.

Fundraising events are being cancelled and trading revenues are drying up overnight, resulting in immediate cash flow problems for many. Many charities have few or no cash reserves to get them through an extended period of disruption and are already planning redundancies or even to close down. Without substantial financial assistance from government, the charity sector’s capacity to respond the crisis (for example by organising volunteers) will be drastically diminished.

DSC and other leading charity infrastructure bodies have developed key policy asks for the government to implement to help keep charities operating in the next few months. Despite some progress last week, Government has been too slow to respond to the magnitude of what is coming. In particular, the Treasury remains unconvinced of the need for swift, substantial and simple financial support for our sector.

The window of opportunity to change this may be closing, fast. Urgent action is needed today to build public and political pressure on the government and we need your help.

That’s why we’re asking you to please download this template letter and send it straightaway to your MP – let’s get those parliamentary postbags popping, pronto!

With your help, we can all make a difference so Britain’s charities can keep on serving the country at this difficult time. Here’s how to do it:

1. Find your MP and constituency on Parliament’s website with their name or your postcode
2. Download the template letter which contains pre-written text and self-explanatory text in yellow which you should delete and update with your own details
3. Email and/or post it to your MP (contact details available at the link under 1 above)
4. If you’re on twitter or other social media, take a photo of your letter and tweet it, including the hashtags #SaveOurSector #EveryDayCounts

Thank you for your support!