A campaign by philanthropist and businessman Steve Morgan to help charities affected by Covid-19 has now handed out £5m.

The Steve Morgan Foundation’s Covid-19 Emergency Fund has clocked up another milestone after making more than 500 awards to charities in North Wales, Cheshire and Merseyside.

The founder of the Steve Morgan Foundation announced in March he would be giving up to £1m a week to local charities faced with a cashflow crisis as a result of the pandemic and recently announced he would be extending it until the end of September.

In addition to the £5m, Mr Morgan has also committed to give up to another £1m in match-funding to Cheshire Community Foundation’s Covid-19 Response Fund.

The founder of Flintshire-based housebuilder Redrow said: “The job’s not done but it’s a significant double landmark. We’ve had a flurry of applications since the decision to extend the campaign for another three months was announced.

“By coincidence we reached the double milestone of 500 awards and £5m at the same time which reflects the genuine need facing the charity sector.

“The lockdown and the rules on social distancing created a double whammy for charities of not being able to see users face-to-face and making it a lot harder to fundraise.

“The purpose of launching the Covid-19 Emergency Fund back in March was to help charities stay open during the pandemic so they can keep looking after the most vulnerable members of society.

“Charities have had to evolve and many have moved their services online.

“As the lockdown has been eased it’s been nice to see face-to-face activities resume at a safe distance.”

Mr Morgan said reaching the double milestone wasn’t the statistic he took the most satisfaction out of.

“Reaching 500 awards and £5m is nice but there will be many more landmarks before the campaign finishes,” he said. 

“The statistic that means the most is we’ve now directly benefitted 1,079,582 people across Merseyside, North Wales and Cheshire and the figure is rising.”

The campaign reached the £5m milestone after a flood of new awards following last week’s decision to extend the campaign to the end of September. 

They include £8,812 to Adult Learning Wales; £38,822 to The Reader, in Liverpool, and £8,863 to Ella Together, in Runcorn, in Cheshire.

There were no new restrictions on who can apply for the new round of funding. For details about the criteria go to  https://stevemorganfoundation.org.uk