27 April 2020 | News,

Rapid Support Fund COVID-19

Swiss Philanthropy Foundation is pleased to announce the creation of a collaborative fund to support NGOs whose activities are impacted by the pandemic, the „COVID-19 Rapid Support Fund“. Thanks to the strong mobilization of donors and a matching-fund mechanism by SPF, a fund of CHF 500,000 has been raised in record time.

The impact of COVID-19 on NGOs assisting the poorest is devastating: reduction of activities, cash-flow problems, difficulty in maintaining employees, risk of closure, in addition to new vital needs of some of the poorest and most vulnerable beneficiaries.

It is in this context and in order to support its longstanding NGO partners, strongly impacted by the pandemic, and with a view to ensuring the continuity of the actions deployed, SPF wished to deploy its expertise and professionalism in order to set up an appropriate collaborative response in the shortest possible time.

This „COVID-19 Rapid Support Fund“ was the object of exemplary solidarity and generosity from eleven donors close to the Foundation. Within a few weeks, the fund raised CHF 250,000 and SPF committed to double this amount to reach a total of CHF 500,000. This mobilization will make it possible to help 17 organizations throughout the world, in particular in Brazil, Colombia, South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania, Cambodia, India, Laos, Philippines, Vietnam and Lebanon.

From 1 May 2020, CHF 30,000 will be made available to NGOs for a period of six months to enable them to keep essential members of their teams, provide rapid assistance to their most vulnerable beneficiaries and set up coronavirus prevention campaigns and the provision of protective equipment for field teams.

It is vital and urgent to put in place new ways to support these organizations through this crisis. Swiss Philanthropy Foundation is pleased to support these urgent responses, offering its expertise and resources in a collaborative and sustainable spirit.

In order to share best practices with COVID-19 Rapid Support Fund contributors and beneficiary NGOs, webinars will be organised in the coming weeks.

If you are interested in contributing to this rapid assistance fund, you can contact Sonia Perrenoud directly at: s.perrenoud@swissphilanthropy.ch.

For more information, we invite you to download the presentation of the Rapid Support Fund.

Important: The beneficiary organisations from this fund are already selected and meet the following criteria as approved by SPF Board :
These are exclusively organisations which benefit or have benefited in the past from SPF’s support through its thematic funds. SPF unfortunately cannot considerate other funding requests and will not respond to other requests.