Helping more people to look after their future: the Association of British Insurers’ Covid-19 Fund impact report
Our purpose is to help more people look after their future and this goes beyond supporting our customers to how we support the communities in which we live and work. So, when Covid-19 struck five years ago, and charities faced a massive drop in income from having to close their shops or stop fundraising events, we invested in the Association of British Insurers’ (ABI) Covid-19 fund which was designed to help charities and individuals that were negatively impacted by the pandemic.
As an industry we raised £84 million, while the Department of Culture, Media and Sport donated a further £20million to bring the total amount in the Fund to a staggering £104 million. This money has helped fund essential work of 17 national charities and more than 100 smaller charities over the last five years.
At the launch of the ABI’s From Crisis to Impact: What the Covid-19 Support Fund Delivered report, Admiral colleagues had the chance to hear more about the amazing work that the Fund has supported and the millions of lives its touched.
For instance, £20 million was given to the National Emergencies Trust who collaborated with Community Foundations, who help people and organisations make a difference to communities, to understand who needed help locally, whether this meant delivering hot meals to vulnerable people or tackling social isolation and providing emergency counselling.
The Fund also supported the Business in the Community, an organisation that brings business leaders together to deliver positive change, provide IT devices to children struggling to join virtual lessons, funded victim support organisations to help people affected by domestic abuse and provided accommodation for homeless people.
Many of the services the Fund supported are still in operation today. For example, Action for Children used the Fund’s donation to develop a unique new digital advice service, “Sidekick”, an anonymous and confidential text service aimed at young people, and The Alzheimer’s Society created ‘Companion Calls’, a ground-breaking volunteer service for people affected by dementia which continues today.