A year of supporting people seeking sanctuary in Wales

Community Foundation Wales has awarded over £450,000 in grants to charities, community groups and organisations supporting people seeking sanctuary in Wales.

The response of the Nation of Sanctuary Croeso Fund in supporting the urgent needs of people displaced by conflict is detailed in Community Foundation Wales’ ‘Supporting people seeking sanctuary in Wales’ report, published this week.

Community Foundation Wales launched the fund in March 2022, with an appeal that was answered with public donations as well as generous contributions from Moondance Foundation, the LNB Fund, British Red Cross, Masonic Charitable Fund and Gwendoline and Margaret Davies Charity.

Jane Hutt, Minister for Social Justice at Welsh Government, very quickly recognised the immediate and escalating need for groups supporting people seeking sanctuary across Wales and, on behalf of Welsh Government, made a gift of £1m to the fund.

Rather than establishing a fund addressing just the immediate need, Community Foundation Wales set up the Nation of Sanctuary Croeso Fund as an endowment fund, supporting the needs of people seeking sanctuary today whilst ensuring that this funding continues to be available in the future.

As detailed in the ‘Supporting people seeking sanctuary in Wales’ report, seven groups have been supported with grants including a choir for people seeking sanctuary in Cardiff, a ‘home hub’ for people seeking sanctuary in and round Wrexham and a school in Pembrokeshire who became the first ‘School of Sanctuary’ in that area.

Richard Williams, Chief Executive of Community Foundation Wales said:

“We are proud to have supported communities across Wales to provide a warm Welsh welcome to the many people fleeing conflict and seeking sanctuary in our villages, towns and cities. Sharing the heart-warming stories of people who have been supported by the Nation of Sanctuary Croeso Fund in our Supporting people seeking sanctuary in Wales’ report has really helped us to show the vital importance of the fund.

What our report makes clear is that, whilst we have received a huge amount of donations to support displaced people, the demand for funding is still very high. The fund was inundated with applications and unfortunately we were unable to support a number of projects doing great work in supporting people seeking sanctuary and trying to build a new life in Wales.

We hope that our report will encourage the Welsh public and businesses to donate and support the Nation of Sanctuary Croeso Fund to help even more people seeking sanctuary in Wales.”

Jane Hutt MS, Minister for Social Justice, Welsh Government said:

““We are proud to be a Nation of Sanctuary in Wales. It is heartening to hear about the organisations who have benefitted from this fund and the positive impact it is having on communities across Wales. We donated £1m to this fund as we are committed to ensuring that people seeking sanctuary are given the necessary support not just to survive, but to thrive and contribute to our communities.”

You can donate to the fund here.