The charity has received £60,000 to help it become more sustainable as efforts to save the organisation continue

An embattled charity has received a much-needed funding boost.

Fife Gingerbread has received a grant of £60,000 from Fife Council as it looks to survive amidst funding cuts.

The organisation needs to secure funding of up to £600,000 to keep operating at its current level, but welcomed the money which is aimed at helping the organisation become more sustainable.

The charity’s chief executive Rhona Cunningham said: “We are delighted to be working with Fife Council, as well as Scottish Government and other funders, to create a more sustainable way of funding Fife Gingerbread. We are very grateful for this extra funding and it will potentially help us pull more money in, but we are by no means out of the woods yet. We needed £600,000 to keep operating at our current capacity, and that still stands.”

External funding coming to an end has been the main blame for the funding crisis, which forced Fife Gingerbread to announce its difficulties and highlight the impact a dramatic reduction in its service would have on the families it supports, and other services in the area.

Cunningham added: “Going public with our situation and campaigning for funding was not something we ever wanted to do, but we know the need for the support we deliver is immense, and we know how devastating it would be to families if our support was suddenly not there. Sometimes we need to shout about what we do because our early intervention work prevents so many families from ever landing at the door of a statutory service.”

Since going public with its funding crisis in mid-January, the independent charity has been inundated with messages of support from partner organisations, local businesses, elected members, and individuals who have used the service in the past.