Nine in ten BAME micro and small charities are set to close if the coronavirus crisis continues beyond three months following the lockdown, a new report has revealed.

Findings from the Impact of COVID-19 on BAME community and voluntary organisations report, produced by London-based charity The Ubele Initiative, suggests that if the crisis continues for a further three months, as much as 90% of the 137 BAME-led micro and small charities could permanently close.

The report is based on two surveys conducted between 19 March and 4 April 2020. It received182 responses, of which 137 were BAME-led.

Of the respondents, 87% said they do not have sufficient reserves to last more than three months.

"This piece of work into the impact of Covid-19 on BAME led organisations shows struggling BAME organisations without a lifebuoy to keep them afloat," Ubele founder and managing director, Yvonne Field said.

"Those few surviving organisations (many which have been in existence for up to four decades) have ended up rudderless without a clear steer as survival beckons."

"To rescue the BAME third sector, locally, regionally and nationally, we need more than lifeboats – we need a refit; a strong keel, a new rudder for a new direction, an anchor to ride the current and future storms. This report, against such a backdrop of a world upturned from this pandemic, provides an opportunity to reboot and rethink how we recover.”

Deputy mayor for Social Integration, Social Mobility and Community Engagement, Debbie Weekes-Bernard added that it is "increasingly clear from emerging evidence that people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds are being disproportionately affected by the outbreak of COVID-19".

"Existing inequalities have worsened through this crisis and it’s more important than ever that support is given to BAME community-led organisations."

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