Coronavirus: Charity sends chilling funding warning

Small good causes could be facing the finishing line because events are having to be cancelled due to the coronavirus crisis.

So says a charity who have campaigned closely with Oldham GPs but who have already lost vital marathon revenue and seen a fundraiser at a railway museum hit the buffers. 

And the irony is, that the organisation – Antibiotic Research UK – is the only one in the world dedicated to beating pandemic superbugs.

Despite a massive rise in online fundraising, live events from bungee jumps to cake sales are still massively popular, with three-quarters of tech-savvy millennials saying that attending one is more powerful than funding online, with one in five actually going to an event recently to bolster a good cause.

“Without massive fundraising teams and big advertising budgets to spend on TV adverts, smaller charities are reliant on the kindness of individuals and groups who set themselves personal challenges or collectively raise cash within their community,” said Professor Colin Garner, Chief Executive of Antibiotic Research UK.

“Our kind of charity is performing a vital service to society – just as the many organisations providing carers or trying to help those in need like the homeless – are.

"Without us, lives would be lost. It’s as straightforward as that.”

Antibiotic Research UK was set-up to find solutions to exactly the kind of crisis the world is experiencing now, argues Professor Garner.

Despite its relatively small size, it is tackling an even bigger problem than the Coronavirus – drug-resistant infections.

With antibiotics becoming increasingly redundant, the World Health Organisation predicts that superbugs could kill 10 million people by 2050.

Infections can affect anyone, and routine operations could be cancelled, and people become at risk of death from an infected scratch.

And yet Governments, the pharmaceutical industry, the farming sector, medics and the public have done little to change the situation. 

Despite few resources, the fundraising team at Antibiotic Research has managed to swell the charity’s coffers by £1.5 million since its formation.

That money has gone into finding new medications and supporting patients living with dangerous, possibly deadly, infections.

The fundraising team at the charity came up with the following ideas to help charities and those they serve, during this difficult time.

If house-bound, you can still:

·       Collect unwanted jewellery, books, CDs and DVDs and put them online for sale, once you can venture out to the post office and donate

·       Visit vulnerable neighbours and offer to do chores such as shopping, ironing and walking their dog. If they are able, ask them for a small donation to charity as payment

·       Put 5p in a jar every time you wash your hands. That will also remind you how often you must do this to stay hygienic

·       Organise an online sponsored gaming night

·       Knit some cardigans or jumpers for needy children or twiddle-muffs which offer visual, tactile and sensory stimulation for dementia patients 

·       Set up a swear box. Self-isolation might be enough to make anyone curse!!

·       Keep up those donations to charities and, if you can, up the amount you give even if only for the length of the crisis

Time at home may also give you the opportunity to read – and Professor Garner urged the public to gen-up about drug resistant infections and the deadly danger they pose.

Concluded Colin: “It is pitiful how little people know about such a perilous danger that could affect each and every one of us.

"With COVID-19, the world is actually seeing what a pandemic looks like and should we see a superbug with no medication at all to treat it, we are in dire trouble.

"Just because fundraising events are being cancelled, that is no excuse to curtail giving.

"In fact, in our case it is a warning that we must all do more, or face millions of lives lost.”

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