Don't mean this to be a rant.. but I don't think people realise how bad the funding crisis is in the UK for #UKCharity #CommunityBusiness and similar organisations doing great work. Increased costs of wages, National Insurance, energy bills, equipment, food at a time of increasing need and massive reduction in donations and grants available are all creating a real shit storm. Some funders are significantly changing priorities which means, in our case, we can no longer apply to some who have always supported us in the past. I know of several previously very successful organisations currently close to bankruptcy. We are OK ish for the next 6 months and have a good chunk of regular income from long term room hire which helps pay rent, bills and wages for our office manager.. but getting money for staffing is increasingly hard. The timescales involved in applying to some of the larger funders are a big factor too. The UK Lottery Community Fund take 16 weeks to make a decision and you can't apply until current funding is nearly finished. We are losing a key staff member soon - he's got a job elsewhere as his funding runs out end of this month and we don't yet know if we have Lottery money to pay his wages after that.