Grassroots groups get £685,000 in Government funding

How will this funding help?

Fifty community groups and organisations across England and Wales have received a share of £685,000 funding as part of the Government’s commitment to continue to tackle health inequalities and promote organ, blood, and stem cell donation among Black and Asian communities.

The Community Grants Programme, previously known as the Community Investment Scheme, is managed by NHS Blood and Transplant and helps to fund community, faith, or belief organisations to deliver projects that encourage more Black and Asian people to become donors.

More donors are urgently needed because the shortage of donors from Black and Asian communities means patients from these communities can have worse outcomes. People from the same ethnic background are more likely to be a match.

NHSBT can only provide the best matched blood for people with sickle cell around half the time. Sickle cell is the fastest growing genetic condition in the UK. It is more prevalent in people from Black African or Black Caribbean backgrounds. The NHS needs a record 250 blood donations a day to treat people with sickle cell.
Black and Asian people wait longer for organ transplants. People from Black, Asian, Mixed or Other minority ethnic backgrounds make up one third of all people on the transplant waiting list, due to the difficulties finding a match.
White patients have about 80-90% chance of finding a stem cell match from a stranger. However Black, Asian and mixed race people can only find a stem cell match from a stranger around 30-40% of the time.

The Community Grants Programme scheme has shown that enabling grassroots organisations to champion organ, blood and stem cell donation in a culturally relevant way increases awareness and engagement, helping move towards greater health equality and a more diverse donor base.

A total of £685,000 has been distributed among community-based projects across England and Wales. The full list of groups is at the end of this release (1). Anthony Nolan is again supporting the programme by providing 40% of the contribution towards projects working on stem cell donation.

Funds that were available for each area were around:

Blood donation projects - £242,000
Living kidney donation projects - £113,000
Deceased organ donation projects - £128,000
Stem cell donation projects - £102,000
Combined donation projects (covering more than one type of donation) - £100,000

One organisation's story

'We Are Donors' stall at King's College University One example of the many organisations receiving funding is We Are Donors, which is a national network of university student groups working to raise awareness of organ and blood donation in order to increase the number of donors across the UK.

To raise awareness around organ donation, We Are Donors will be using their ten local groups across England and Wales to deliver educational talks and workshops to pupils aged 11-18 years in areas known to have higher proportion of people from Black African and Caribbean heritage.

To raise awareness for blood donation, their programme will be targeted towards Black African and Caribbean university students aged 18-25. This will run at their nine established university groups based in England. These groups will aim to educate, raise awareness and register new blood donors through focused educational events and talks.

Statement from Dr Charlotte Brathwaite-Shirley

Dr Charlotte Brathwaite-Shirley, Financial Lead and Trustee at We Are Donors, said:

"We Are Donors is delighted to have secured funding through NHSBT’s Community Grant Programme. Our project aims to work with the young Black African and Caribbean population within schools and universities to provide education on the topics of organ and blood donation. We hope that this young population will drive future conversations regarding organ and blood donation."

Statement from Altaf Kazi

Altaf Kazi, Assistant Director, Partnerships and Community Engagement at NHS Blood and Transplant, said:

"We have seen first-hand the abilities of trusted individuals and community groups to prompt conversation, tackle misinformation, educate, and offer reassurance around donation."

"Often a person’s best donor match will share their ethnicity, but too many donation opportunities are missed because families haven’t discussed organ donation, and Black and Asian people are seriously under-represented when it comes to donating blood and stem cells."

"We are really excited to work with these grassroots champions to address inequalities and help save more lives."

Statement from Health Minister Neil O'Brien

Health Minister Neil O’Brien said:

"It is important everyone has the best chance of receiving a potentially life-saving blood, organ or stem cell donation, regardless of their ethnic background and these organisations are helping to make a real difference."

"We’re investing to encourage and increase education about donation among black and Asian communities."

"Thank you to all these grass roots organisations for bringing communities together to transform the lives of thousands of people."

Statement from Henny Braund MBE

Henny Braund MBE, Chief Executive at Anthony Nolan, said:

"At Anthony Nolan, we’re proud to work with our partners to fund the Community Grants Programme. There are long-standing disparities in access to lifesaving stem cell transplants, with people from a minority ethnic background still much less likely to find a match from an unrelated donor."

"These vital projects will boost the number of stem cell donors from minority ethnic backgrounds on the UK stem cell register. In turn, they will help close the gap in access to lifesaving treatment between patients from minority ethnic backgrounds and those of White ethnicity."

Additional information

More information about the Community Grants Programme can be found here https://www.nhsbt.nhs.uk/communitygrants or by contacting: community.funding@nhsbt.nhs.uk.
The Community Grants Programme is part of a Government-funded campaign, led by NHS Blood and Transplant, with support from the National BAME Transplant Alliance (NBTA), and support and funding from Anthony Noland, to address the urgent need for donors from black, Asian and mixed ethnic backgrounds.

Press release notes

The list of organisations receiving funding is:

ACLT (African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust)
Adventures in Compassionate Commerce (AiCC)
African Centre For Development and Research
Black Blood Matters
Black Health Initiative (BHI)
Caribbean & African Health Network (CAHN)
Cianna's Smile
Equality Council UK (ECUK)
Father Hudson's Care - Brushstrokes Community Project
Faiths Forum for London
Inspired by JLG LTD
Legacy901 CIC
RAFFA International Development Agency
Rochdale Dawah Centre
Sickle Cell Society
Sickle Cell Suffolk
Toni Annette Limited
BBSI
British Islamic Medical Association
Halal Dinner Club (part of the Leaf Coaching CIC)
ILM-Ornate Lane Ltd ( Raising Explorers)
Jain and Hindu Organ Donation Alliance (JHOD)
Kidney Wales
Muslim Women's Network UK
Navnat Vanik Association
QED
Sadhu Vaswani
Shade 7 Limited
Shree Swaminarayan Mandir Kingsbury
University of Bedfordshire
Action On Blood
Donor Research at University of Brighton
Impact4Life Wellbeing CIC
Medway African and Caribbean Association (MACA)
Ujima Radio
We Are Donors
Action On Blood
ACLT (African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust)
Consortium of Muslim Professional
Jain and Hindu Organ Donation Alliance (JHOD)
Muslim Doctors Association
One Voice Blackburn
UPAHAAR
Gift of Living Donation( GOLD) & Imperial College Renal and Transplant Centre
Jain and Hindu Organ Donation Alliance (JHOD) and Royal Free Hospital Trust
Newham Community Project
Nishkam Healthcare Trust
Shade 7 Limited
Tales to Inspire
Vanik Council (UK)

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