Step 2 Maximise your money 2 Help from charitable grants Lots of organisations have set up charitable funds that give grants if you are in financial difficulty. This is money that could help make your situation easier to manage and you do not need to pay it back. In 2018, charitable organisations made hundreds of millions of pounds available to help people. Each organisation has its own rules for who it will help. These vary and could, for example, be based on: • where you live; • your, or your partner's, current or previous job; • whether you have any medical needs; or • your financial situation. Turn2us can search over 1,700 charitable grants for you. Use the Turn2us Grant Search tool to find charitable organisations that might be able to help you. Go to www.turn2us.org. It takes less than five minutes on average. Kari’s story Kari lives alone and works part-time. She used to do quite a lot of overtime, but because of personal reasons hadn’t been able to do any for some time. When Kari contacted us, her personal circumstances had started to improve, but she was behind with her rent. Kari was worried about what would happen next. We advised Kari that it is important to check what help she can get whenever her circumstances change. She did a charitable grant check with Turn2us and was surprised to find that there was help available. Because Kari had worked in retail for several years, she was able to apply to retailTRUST for a grant to pay towards her rent debt. With this help, Kari is now up to date with her rent. She also told us that she can now sleep more easily. Page 39