The D&A Associates Hardship Fund

On the 21st March 2025 the social enterprise Diversity & Ability held a Zoom call to inform all freelance employees that they would cease trading and begin the process of becoming insolvent immediately.

On this call, there were over 100 individuals who all found out at the same time that they:

1) will no longer receive work through D&A

2) that they will not be paid for the last 2 months of work they have done.

This has placed many individuals in an extremely challenging and volatile financial situation.

Some of these freelancers have children or are currently expecting, some have immediate rent & bill payments to meet in order to ensure they continue to have a roof over their heads. Some are in a position of not being able to afford food for themselves or their families.

This crowd funding page has been set up to create a hardship fund for people who are facing immediate, dire financial challenges in order to support them at an extremely challenging time.

We will raise funds via this GoFundMe page on a crowdsourcing basis. We intend to raise funds from the D&A community group, the D&A mailing list, and beyond.

All of the money raised will be distributed amongst individuals who have the most pressing need at this moment.

We are currently collating information from individuals who have expressed that they would greatly benefit from some financial assistance at this time. This includes the amounts that people would benefit from, the deadline for payments they need to meet, as well as other relevant information.

If you are a member of the associate community in a difficult financial situation, here is a link to the application form for the Hardship fund: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfa-iqgs04WK9OwFf-sXn-9QkjqaDD3Z2UlfD1bkYOR5Sl2Gg/viewform

This initiative is being organised solely by the freelancers who have lost work, and is intended to be a way for us to support each other at this time.

We are not asking anyone to compromise their own situation to contribute to this fund, and there is no obligation or pressure to contribute to this in any way.

If you feel able to contribute that is incredible and it will have a direct positive impact on people’s lives.

If you are unable to contribute financially, we kindly ask you to share this, if you are comfortable doing so, in order for us to reach as many people as possible.

Thank you.