Increasing the limit for requests for help
You may have noticed that the monetary limit for requests for help has increased on our website, which means that our local partners can now post requests up to the upper limit of £200 (instead of the previous £150). This is a decision we have recently made, with our Trustees, to make sure that we can continue to help individuals with the items that they need most.
Why?
With the rising cost of living in the UK we have been made aware that it is becoming increasingly difficult for our Advocates, and their recipients, to find larger items within the previous limit of £150.
Therefore, we have made the decision to increase the limit for requests to £200. However, as with our previous limit on requests, we ask our Advocates to only use this upper limit where absolutely necessary for specific larger items, such as cookers, washing machines and fridge freezers.
Although we have increased the upper limit for each request, one household is still able to have up to three requests. This means that we can enable our donors to help individuals and families in a crisis, but highlights that we're not an on-going financial support.
Alongside the guidelines around the upper limit we also have in place other guidelines on some items, and have increased or stipulated these where we feel necessary. We have placed reasonable limits for some specific items, such as £100 for a mobile phone or £75 for a microwave.
How do we keep track of these limits?
With the launch of our new website and back-end systems in June 2022, we were able to integrate some new processes. One of these processes is that each request posted by our local partners gets read by our staff team before it goes live onto the website. This enables us to question and, where needed, amend the amount or request. This process helps us to keep the system fair for every applicant, making sure all our guidelines are adhered to.
As we increase the limit on each request we're very thankful to all our donors, each giving what they can; whether meeting a need in full or giving towards a request. In 2022 the most popular amount donated was £50, which on its own wouldn't be sufficient to meet in full one of the requests on our website. That's what we love about Acts 435 - it is as people donate, alongside others, to the same need, that they can together support an individual in crisis. We are trusting that in spite of the cost of living crisis continuing to impact so many, our donors will still step up with us in generosity to continue to meet the needs of those seeking our help, even as we increase the maximum limit of our requests.
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The average time for a need to be fully funded is currently 2 days