Crowdfunder steps in to help beleaguered Cornish residents with the cost-of-living crisis
Rob Love, CEO and Co-founder of Crowdfunder
Kim Conchie, CEO of Cornwall Chamber of Commerce
There’s hope for struggling Cornish residents as Crowdfunder and local businesses launch ‘Donate the Rebate’, encouraging second homeowners to donate their government grants to the needy.
Due to a number of perfect storms, the UK is about to be plunged into a crisis not seen for a century, with millions of families across the nation being forced to choose between heating or eating. As uncapped energy bills threaten to hit £3,600 – or more – this winter, some 9.6 million homes will be spending more than a tenth of their income on energy bills; an unsustainable rise, plunging an unprecedented number of households into poverty.
And for many, as we head into this frightening, uncertain winter, the news that home in the UK will receive a no-strings government grant of at least £400 under the Energy Bills Support Scheme will come as cold comfort. It’s obviously not enough. But it also means that homeowners with more than one property will receive an energy rebate for each domicile they own.
Cornwall is home to 13,500 second homes – which adds up to the frankly jaw-dropping sum of £5.4 million in additional pay-outs. And during a winter when a quarter of a freezing UK will be reportedly leaving their radiators switched off, numerous Cornish residents think that’s unfair, during a cost-of-living crisis which will see a 75% increase in families seeking food parcels, 1500 people in emergency accommodation, and over 21,00 are on housing waiting lists. What to do?
One possible solution is exemplified by the hashtag, #DonateTheRebate, with Cornish business leaders and charities pleading with second homeowners to donate their grant to those who need it most. Leaders such as Rob Love, the CEO and Co-founder of Crowdfunder. “In times like these, we cannot just rely on governments, charities or corporations,” he says. “We need a more efficient way to redistribute wealth to those who really need it.”
To this end, Crowdfunder has set up the #DonateTheRebate campaign, and launched www.poor-nextdoor.com to encourage second homeowners to donate their rebates, via charities and organisations, such as Cornwall Community Foundation, Citizens Advice and DISC Newquay. Says Love, “At Crowdfunder we see real people stepping up everyday to fill the void and bring all of this together to help each other – our #DonateTheRebate campaign represents a ‘levelling up’ for and by the people. We’re starting at home in Cornwall, before all of our welcome tourists and second homeowners disappear 'up country' once more. Looking forward, we want this to be a template for the rest of the country; it’s a simple mechanism that gets the money to the right places.”
Said Kim Conchie, CEO of Cornwall Chamber of Commerce and Chair of Cornwall Community Foundation, “People shouldn’t have to choose between feeding their families or turning the heating on this winter. That’s why I’m donating the rebate from my own home to #DonateTheRebate, and I would like to encourage anyone else who can afford it, to do the same.”
Added Steve and Lesley from The Rame Peninsula, Cornwall: “As a family we are delighted to be one of the initial contributors to this Crowdfunder campaign. Cornwall has always had a great tradition of friendliness to outsiders and now is the time to return the support. We pride ourselves on being a country that makes charitable contributions across the world but now, as never before, we need to look a little closer to home and understand what is happening in our own back garden… We are lucky enough to own a second home in Cornwall and can support this brilliant concept by contributing some of the government money that we receive to those who have the greatest need.”