During 3-10 December 2019, QSA participated in the Big Give Christmas Challenge as part of our fundraising appeal for Down to Earth.
We invited our supporters to make an online donation via the Big Give during 3-10 December; the Big Give Christmas Challenge 'double your donation' opportunity is now closed, and we have achieved our target of £10,000.
Thank you so much to all of our supporters!
Supporters still wishing to give money to QSA can still donate in all of the usual ways, and if you would like to give for Down to Earth specifically please just contact us:
- Call our fundraising team on 020 8983 5037
- email us at fandc@qsa.org.uk
- Write to us at QSA, 17 Old Ford Road, London, E2 9PJ
Why are we raising funds in 2019 for Down to Earth?
This year, QSA's fundraising priority is our Down to Earth service, which is the only UK-wide service providing practical support for people struggling with funeral costs. It provides free one-to-one help for bereaved people planning a loved one’s funeral. Down to Earth has helped over 4,000 clients. We also work strategically to help end UK funeral poverty.
Funeral poverty is a major problem in the UK: according to 2019 research by Royal London, 12% of people in the UK faced with a funeral struggle to pay for it, and people in this group take on an average debt of £1,990.
We do receive important grant funding for Down to Earth from several charitable trusts, but we estimate that over the year we need to raise an additional £500 per working day to cover Down to Earth's running costs.
For more information about funeral poverty and QSA's leading work to tackle it, please see our recently published report Speaking truth to power: a decade of groundbreaking work on funeral poverty.
To learn about one mother's battle to pay for her son's funeral, see Amanda's story.