Hundreds of GoFundMe campaigns set up after Home Office refuses visas or Ukrainian-style entry scheme When Hadil Louz heard the news that her family were going to be evacuated from Gaza earlier in March, the relief was immense. “I was really happy, I screamed in the house shouting how happy I am because it took us a lot of time, effort, stress and uncertainty,” she said. “At the same time, there was a heartache thinking of my other sisters and brother who are still stuck in Gaza with their children ..read more

Southwark asks residents to invest as little as £5 to help fund eco-projects such as cycle hangars and school upgrades Deep cuts to government funding have led a council in south London to ask its residents to invest their own money, for a financial return, to build cycle hangars, LED street lighting and green upgrades at schools and leisure centres. Amid a financial crisis hitting town halls across England, councillors in Southwark have resorted to a crowdfunding scheme to raise £6m over the next six years to help fund climate-friendly projects ..read more

More than £3,000 raised to keep the Student – founded in 1886 by Robert Louis Stevenson at Edinburgh University – going The oldest student newspaper in Europe has been saved from closure after its volunteer staff raised more than £3,000 in emergency crowdfunding. A free newspaper, the Student was founded at the University of Edinburgh in 1887 by the novelist Robert Louis Stevenson, the author of Treasure Island and Kidnapped, who served as its first arts editor ..read more

Charities and parents say legislation must be introduced to protect families from short-term financial hardship caused by immediate loss of disability living allowance This weekend, Sue and Katie O’Leary-Hall said goodbye to their four-year-old daughter Rose. It wasn’t a funeral in the West Yorkshire village of Pool-in-Wharfedale – “we don’t use the F-word,” said Sue – but rather a party, to celebrate the short but incandescent life of the little girl they call their “little miracle ..read more

UK households are under pressure at a time when charities are needed more than ever but there are still ways to contribute Many charities have had a tough time of it during the cost of living crisis. It is clear that lots of people still want to support good causes, and that charities and voluntary organisations are needed more now than ever. But it is also clear that there is less money and time to go round. The Benefact Group’s value of giving report for 2022 showed that, although more people donated to charity last year, they gave less. UK charitable donations totalled £4.3bn in 2022 compar ..read more

GoFundMe reports doubling in number of medical appeals mentioning ‘go private’ or ‘privately’ since before Covid The number of Britons crowdfunding for private medical care has soared since the Covid-19 pandemic, as NHS waiting lists continue to reach record lengths. Figures provided to the Guardian by GoFundMe, a website that helps people raise money, show 84% more medical crowdfunders mentioning “waits” or “waiting lists” were launched this March than in January 2019, before the pandemic. The number of medical campaigns containing the words “go private” or “privately” had also doubled ..read more

The 188-year-old coastguard’s tower in Cornwall is to be moved 100m inland to save it from coastal erosion Perched on an exposed clifftop above the Atlantic, which gnaws ominously at the sandstone and shale foundations below, Bude storm tower in Cornwall has helped to save many mariners from strife over the past two centuries. But now this cherished coastguard’s lookout is to be rescued itself. The 188-year-old Grade II-listed tower at Compass Point, affectionately known as the Pepperpot, will be carefully deconstructed and rebuilt 100 metres inland later this month to avoid its otherwise inev ..read more

A bookseller in Kent has gone viral after tweeting a picture of her empty shop. Here, other retailers explain how they are surviving – even thriving – when many people are counting every penny A vase of hydrangeas sits among a crop of the latest releases, including What Writers Read and Blake Morrison’s Two Sisters. There is a cosy rug and a bright window display. It looks like a lovely bookshop. What there aren’t, however, are any customers. “Winter is killing us, it’s soo quiet,” tweeted Sapphire Bates, the co-owner of Book Bodega in Ramsgate, Kent, on Saturday afternoon. “We need to make £8 ..read more

Brand focused on clothes for women in their 50s and older says it will fail without fundraising Nayna McIntosh believed she had spotted a gap in the market when she launched online retailer Hope Fashion in 2015: producing elegant, relaxed clothes for women in their 50s and older. After several decades working at some of the UK’s largest clothing retailers, McIntosh – who is now 60 – felt older women were being ignored by mainstream brands, despite often having more disposable income ..read more

Five years on from £1.76m crowdfunding, some feel misled after plans for destination venue unravelled along with the firm itself The collapse of a pioneering craft brewery has left a bitter taste among investors who crowdfunded almost £1.8m for a state-of-the-art venue that was never built. Wild Beer Co, based in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, wooed nearly 2,000 shareholders in 2017 with a pitch that promised a destination brewery, restaurant and “school of fermentation” on the nearby Bath & West showground ..read more