Step up - supporting authors, by Dawn Finch

The current health crisis has been catastrophic to authors' incomes and every day I hear more heartbreaking stories of how badly people have been impacted financially. Since March the Society of Authors has paid out over £1 million in hardship grants, and it doesn't look as if the applications to the fund will stop any time soon. With the self-employment grants and the furlough scheme ending soon, I fear that the true hardships are only just beginning.

For the past 60 years, the SoA Fund has provided small grants to professional authors of all kinds facing hardship, paying out around £95,000 a year. Since the beginning of the health crisis, the ongoing demand for grants has increased exponentially. With the long-term financial impact of the health crisis still uncertain, if the SoA is going to continue to support authors in financial need, they need to raise more funds to sustain their grant giving into 2021 and beyond.

The Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS), Royal Literary Fund, Arts Council England, the T S Eliot Foundation in partnership with English PEN, the Literary Consultancy, the National Association of Writers in Education, Amazon UK, and many individuals, generously contributed a combined £1.1 million to our existing Contingency Fund.

SoA have made a big difference this year with the funds available – supporting many authors through personal health crises, others to take on caring responsibilities, many simply to make ends meet, while enabling others to continue to work through lockdown. But funds are running low as applications continue to come in. They estimate they will need another £400,000 to keep awarding grants at the current rate until the end of 2020 – and more to sustain the Fund into the future.

Applications to the fund are open to all professional authors who are resident in the UK or British subjects – including all types of writers, illustrators, literary translators, scriptwriters, poets, journalists and others – for whom author-related activities make up a substantial amount of their annual income.

Grants are likely to be up to £2,000 and designed to meet urgent need with the possibility of review as the situation continues.

The fund is doing great work supporting authors, but the fund needs our support too. It is vital that we all support the fund in as many ways as we possibly can. There are three key ways you can do this - shopping, fundraising and giving.

The Contingency Fund is only made possible by the donations. If you can afford to give, there are a few ways you can do it – from one off gifts and regular payments, to remembering the Fund in your will. If you are one of those who can afford to donate, please do. Guidance on how to do so can be found here.

Can you spare a few hours to organise a sponsored event or auction to help raise money for the Fund (and even have some fun in the process)? Could you put together an event to raise money for the fund? Maybe do a sponsored event? Fundraising is a key element of the fund. You can find more ideas and information here.

There is a very simple way of donating while you shop from supporting organisations. If you shop online from Blackwell's, Waterstones, Hive, M&S, John Lewis, Argos and more and do so via the links from the Society of Authors' page, it won’t cost you a penny extra, but each time you shop that way the Fund will receive a small contribution.

This is all part of us supporting our own. These are terrible times and it is important to make sure we look out for each other. If you, or anyone you know, need help from the Fund you can find the paperwork on the Society of Authors website. Membership of the Society is not a condition of application, but I will always advise authors to join as the legal advice and support is priceless as are the networks and guidance.

Please support the Fund because by doing so, we support each other. In these hideously uncertain times, there is only one certainty and that is that we are stronger when we stand together.

Dawn Finch is an author and library activist and the current chair of the Society of Authors' Children's Writers and Illustrators Group (CWIG)

Please support the fund in your tweets by sharing events and information using #StepUpForAuthors

You can access all the necessary forms for the Fund here.

For more information and ideas for fundraising and supporting the fund, click here.