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When disaster strikes, the public response is usually immediate, with flowers, fundraising pages and messages of support flooding in. Turning that generosity into practical help for survivors, families and communities is far more complex.
On the latest episode of For Every Response, Mhairi Sharp explained how the National Emergencies Trust was created to fill that need, and how its work has evolved into a key part of the UK’s emergency response landscape.
The Trust was set up in response to several incidents which all took place in 2017: the Manchester Arena bombing, the London Bridge terror attack, and the Grenfell Tower fire. In an unusual move, the Charity Commission convened charity and emergency sector leaders to create a single trusted platform for donations during national crises. Mhairi was recruited as CEO in 2019 to build the organisation.
When a major incident occurs, the Trust aims to launch an appeal as soon as possible. “During a national emergency will aim to launch an appeal very quickly – ideally within four hours for a quick onset emergency,” Mhairi said. But she stressed that fundraising is only part of the process.
“Now 10% of our focus is on the fundraising. The remainder is on the equitable distribution, making sure nobody is left behind.”
Distribution is carried out through local community foundations, which understand the needs of their areas. During the Covid-19 appeal, the Trust worked through dozens of local hubs and supported millions of people. There’s an important process in how the Trust decides how to allocate the funds they raise. “We look at Indices of Deprivation, we look at the elderly population, and we’ll create a formula so that we’re not slicing the 5 million pounds that we might be distributing that week equally by population. We’re taking into account who lives there, and then we empower the local hubs to make that distribution in line with the needs locally,” Mhairi explained.
Alongside national appeals, the Trust also supports five to ten local emergencies a year, often working with police Family Liaison Officers after incidents such as the Southport stabbing or the Water Street parade crash. In those cases, the organisation helps convene partners and avoid problems seen in earlier disasters.
“The local population are always the first responders,” Mhairi said. “They don’t need to be trained. They have that instinctive human response.”
The Trust’s work extends beyond immediate response. A Survivors Advisory Forum, including people affected by events from the Aberfan disaster to the Hillsborough disaster, feeds into policy and planning.
“Frustratingly, but not surprisingly, the same issues came up at Aberfan, at Hillsborough, at Grenfell and so on,” Mhairi said. Lessons from those experiences have led to policy changes, including updates to benefit rules so that charitable gifts do not remove access to support.
The organisation can scale rapidly when needed. During Covid-19, a small core team expanded to more than 150 people with help from corporate partners and secondees. Public confidence is also strengthened by senior board members and supporters such as Prince William, whose backing helped boost fundraising in the Trust’s early months to 100 million pounds.
Looking ahead, the Trust is investing in mental health tools, data-led planning and resilience programmes. It has also partnered with the Blue Light Card Foundation to support emergency service personnel affected by trauma.
“Emergencies don’t traditionally raise funds for first responders,” Mhairi noted, describing why that partnership was created.
The Trust’s work highlights recovery, which is an often-overlooked phase of major incidents. Fundraising and survivor support sit outside operational command, but they shape how communities rebuild and how people move forward after tragedy. Including first responders in this, whether they are frontline blue light staff or members of the public, is key to the Trust’s core mission.
Mhairi explained that the goal is to ensure that when the next emergency happens, “the systems that are set up to support survivors are better prepared”, turning public generosity into lasting, practical support.
Listen to the full episode below.
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