Crusaid UK Project Grants

Overview

Crusaid, founded in 1986, raises funds to support people living with HIV and AIDS in the UK and, more recently, overseas.

They do this by:

• Helping people struggling with poverty in the UK through the Crusaid Hardship Fund
• Funding information, education projects and services that help people living with HIV through our UK projects
• Making grants to organisations providing life-saving treatment, education and support through our African projects
• And funding the search for better treatments through Research

Crusaid expects that all grants made will meet the charitable objectives of the organisation, which in relation to HIV/AIDS are:

• The relief of sickness and the protection and preservation of health.
• The promotion for the public benefit of research into medical science and treatment.
• The relief of Poverty amongst people living with HIV/AIDS.

Crusaid, as the leading national fundraiser for people living with HIV/AIDS continues to target its grant making activities towards making a tangible difference in both the day to day lives of people living with HIV/AIDS as well as the public awareness and education around the virus.

UK Grant Programmes

Crusaid are now taking a more strategic approach to the awarding of grants to projects in the UK. This allows them to develop long-term relationships with the projects they fund – and work closely with other funders – in order to develop and deliver the type of programmes that will advance the care of people with HIV and AIDS in the UK.

The Crusaid UK Grants Programme works strategically with community based and national organisations within the HIV sector to educate, support and advance their work.

Crusaid's Hardship Fund makes two types of grants:

• To award carefully targeted funding through professional advocacy and welfare bodies to support individuals living with HIV and AIDS and in extreme levels of poverty in the most appropriate way.

• To support professionals within the HIV sector to ensure the limited funds available target and improve the root problems surrounding a persons HIV related poverty.

Crusaid operates two Hardship Funds; the largest fund supporting applicants in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is administrated in the Crusaid office, whilst a second fund supports applicants in Scotland and is administered by Waverly Care in Edinburgh. Both Funds are currently supported through a contracted partnership agreement on a three year basis with Elton John AIDS Foundation and the MAC AIDS Fund.

Where the Crusaid Hardship Fund helps

Crusaid’s Hardship Fund isn’t there to provide people with an income or long-term palliative care. The resources simply don’t exist to make this a possibility.

Rather, Crusaid directs individual pieces of highly-targeted financial assistance to people living in poverty with HIV and AIDS where it can make a real and lasting difference to their situation. Hardship Fund grants might be made to cover the cost of:

• A fridge to keep medication in

• A washing machine for someone suffering from night sweats

• An increased gas bill for someone experiencing HIV-related pneumonia

• Respite care for children whilst their carer is in hospital

How to apply

To ensure that the funds are used to lift people from the poverty trap and onto a more stable platform from which to manage their health, every application to Crusaid’s Hardship Fund is made in association with a professional social worker who provides a full needs-based assessment.