The Board of Motability Operations has today announced a £250 million donation to the Motability Foundation. We welcome this donation, which is possible due to their current strong financial position caused by external factors such as the continuing strong second-hand car market.
Extending our commitment to Grants to Charities and Organisations
This donation will enable us to help even more disabled people with their mobility as part of our ongoing commitment to our vision - building a future where all disabled people have the transport options to make the journeys they choose.
Today we are announcing that £50 million of the donation will be used to extend our commitment to our Grants to Charities and Organisations portfolio.
Launched in April 2022, these programmes are designed to provide support in areas where our wide range of research – including insight from our beneficiaries, Scheme customers, other disabled people and representative organisations – has shown opportunities to have the greatest impact for all disabled people.
Supporting organisations and communities across the UK
In 2022 we allocated £50 million, with grants awarded over the three financial years ending March 2025.
We will use this money to extend the programme for a further three years beyond March 2025, using the next year to ensure our research with disabled people, and evaluation of our initial impact programmes, informs the priorities for the next round of funding.
The new grants are already having a positive impact on organisations and communities across the UK. In 2022/23, we awarded 27 grants totalling £12.6m, to be spent over three years.
Unprecedented demand for grants
In 2022/23, we had a charitable spend of over £112 million and awarded 19,273 grants – a significant increase of 48% and 9% respectively on the previous year.
Whilst we have again significantly increased our grant making, we continue to receive increasing numbers of grant applications from both beneficiaries for Scheme-Related Grants and from organisations, which is continuing to have a significant impact on our work.
We currently face unprecedented levels of demand from our beneficiaries, which we expect to continue for some time, as well as increased cost of grants due to external factors such as inflation.
Donation will ensure support for disabled people for generations
Because of external uncertainty around factors such as second-hand car prices, the transition to electric and economic uncertainty, we cannot be sure of future donations from Motability Operations, therefore this donation is very important to help us meet the current levels of demand in the short term, whilst ensuring the long-term sustainability of our grant-making to support disabled people for generations to come.
