Please support our Winter Poverty Campaign

Over 23,000 children are living in poverty in Surrey, the majority of families with children living in poverty in our county are working families, struggling to make ends meet at the end of the month for basic food and living costs.
It can be really hard to ask for help in a supposedly affluent county like ours.

Cost of the School Day Report on Poverty in Surrey Schools 2023:
“I know people who did have [free school meals] would skip lunch because it stopped questions”

Please donate to our Winter Poverty Campaign

Thanks to fantastic support from the people of Surrey in 2022 our Winter campaign was able to award grants of over £239,000 to 41 different organisations supporting those most in need, including food banks, baby banks and warm hubs.

This year we will be raising money to provide help in two key, highly impactful ways:

• To provide hardship funding direct to individuals or families in need via schools, food banks, pantries or other local organisations who are in contact with those most in need;
• To support organisations working with people to encourage and support them to save for the future.

We’ve chosen those two priority areas after listening carefully to schools, food banks and debt advice organisations in our county about what makes the biggest difference to the people they help. In the last year our Area Funds in particular have been working with local schools to disperse funding to support things like the costs of school trips or equipment.

We want to encourage families in particular to save because families in poverty are far less likely to have any savings. 65% of those in poverty live in a family in which no adult saves. The average family in poverty has no liquid assets at all, while the average family outside of poverty has liquid assets of around £4,500. This matters, because it means that families are more likely to run into financial difficulties when they face an unforeseen expense like a fridge or cooker breaking, or suffer an income shock, like the loss of employment or difficulty with their benefits.

Please help us to hit our target of £50,000, any amount is hugely welcome.

Your donation will be put towards awarding grants to local organisations that are actively helping those in poverty. Therefore you will help food banks, community fridges, warm hubs, baby banks, debt advice and energy advice. And urgent support providers will also benefit.

With your kind support, together we can combat poverty this winter in our community.

Click on this link to donate online

Any donation of any size is really welcome. If you are fortunate not to need the £500 Winter Fuel Payment from the Government, please consider donating it to our Winter Poverty Campaign.
If you add Gift Aid to your £500, your donation grows to £625!
You can donate at our online donation page. Donate now (click on this link)

Discover how you can give to the Community Foundation for Surrey 

You can discover more about giving options for: 

• Individuals and families, 
• Businesses and corporates,
• Legacy and Memory Funds,
• Information for Professional Advisors about how best to support your clients

You can discover more here Give to your community

Email giving@cfsurrey.org.uk and we’ll get back to you to discuss the options available.