Hope not Hate have made an urgent appeal for funds to help fill a financial hole caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The anti-hate campaign group emailed supporters last week in a bid to raise £20,000 to plug a gap left by a “drop-off in online donations, a pause on funding from grant organisations, and the loss of support from groups that have traditionally financed our work”.
“These last few months have been hard for HOPE not hate,” admitted Nick Lowles in his message.
“All of this has happened in the context of us tracking far-right thugs as they took to the streets of the UK, fighting to get violent nazi gangs outlawed, and standing up for the rights of Uyghur people in China – and we did it all with half of our staff team on furlough.
“Coronavirus has left a significant hole in HOPE not hate’s finances. If we want to continue operating at our current level we urgently need to raise £20,000 to plug the gap.”
Two “generous donators” have since told the group that they will match any funds raised upto £10,000, so any online donation made now will immediately be worth three times as much.
“You already know what we can do with this money,” said Lowles. “In 2010 HOPE not hate beat the BNP, in 2015 we beat UKIP and in 2019 we beat the Brexit Party. We stopped a nazi terrorist from murdering an MP, and have infiltrated and exposed far-right groups across the world.
“We can’t imagine what the world would have been like if we’d not been there to take on these fights, and we don’t want to imagine what it will be like if we can’t take them on in the future.
“The work we do is vital, but we’re at risk of losing it. Help us to plug this hole – make a donation today.”
—-
