Let’s begin by looking at those economic factors. The exponential increase in electricity, gas and petrol prices has had everyone reeling in the first quarter of 2022. The new tariffs announced on 01 April combined with continued blocks on Russian oil and gas in the western world would suggest the coming months will bring little relief.

Escalating fuel costs hit households directly but also have a knock on effect on everything else as retailers put up prices to meet their escalating overheads. All these wheels in motion lead to the exacerbation of economic inequalities and more demands placed on the charities that provide help to those hit hardest.

It doesn’t stop there, though. As well as facing greater demand, charities find that donations go down in difficult times due to everyone needing to tighten belts. The fact that charities own operating costs inevitably increase is the third factor making this the perfect economic storm.

Despite the tumultuous world events all around and some harmful publicity of their own to counter, the government is reasonably stable at present and no general election is expected before 2024. Here, at least, there’s a clear and visible road ahead, and it is important that charities leverage all they can from the Levelling Up plan that was finally unveiled by Michael Gove in February.

To date, the NCVO says the vast majority of levelling up funding has been dedicated to what it calls “hard infrastructure projects” and more must be done for civil society. It’s a view echoed by New Philanthropy Capital (NPC). A recent report from the charities think tank warned that just two percent of levelling up funding has gone towards social infrastructure projects.