Duff & Phelps awards grant to Manchester based poverty charity
The charitable foundation of Duff & Phelps has handed a £10,800 grant to Mustard Tree. The Manchester based charity’s mission is to combat poverty and prevent homelessness in the city by creating opportunities and offering practical support, friendship, connections into work and improvements to health and wellbeing.
Established in 2018 to nurture innovative ideas, impact economic and social issues, the Duff & Phelps Charitable Foundation looks to enable progress in underserved communities around the globe. The employee-directed fund sees Duff & Phelps colleagues work together to recommend grants and volunteerism to qualifying charitable organisations to assist them in achieving their ESG goals. Since its inception in 2018, the foundation has donated over $1.25 million to charities all over the world.
The most recent award made by the charitable foundation is a £10,800 grant to Manchester based charity Mustard Tree – a charity it has supported since 2018. The donation represents part of $150,000 the organisation has earmarked for supporting 20 European organisations in 2020.
Paul Smith, Managing Director in the Global Restructuring Advisory practice at Duff & Phelps in Manchester commented, “Given the current crisis many charities now face this is a vitally important donation. Mustard Tree is a fantastic charity that does amazing work in the local community. It’s great to be able to give back to an organisation which is doing such incredible work in the face of the pandemic. Now more than ever its work is essential.”
Following a decade of social security cuts in the UK, the importance of the third sector has come under intense pressure as demand for their services rapidly rises, but funding to charities from the UK Government declines. As the situation has been exacerbated by Covid-19, a number have even fallen into administration – making grants such as this a vital lifeline for many organisations.
Mustard Tree combats poverty and prevents homelessness in the city. The charity creates opportunities for people to help themselves through providing practical support, friendship, connections into work, improvements to health and wellbeing, plus new experiences to encourage aspiration. Recently it revamped its Salford space to include a community shop, food club and digital hub.
Jo Walby, Mustard Tree CEO, said, “The donation from the Duff & Phelps Charitable Foundation is essential and very welcome especially in these challenging times. But it is not just the money that helps us. The team at Duff & Phelps has given us their time and expertise to help us give people the dignity and support they need during this difficult period.”