UK business stepping up to support Disasters Emergency Committee Venezuela Earthquake Appeal

Support for the DEC Venezuela Earthquake Appeal has been boosted by support from some of the biggest names on the High Street.  

Top UK businesses, their staff and customers are helping provide urgent, lifesaving aid to the people of Venezuela.

The British public have been donating generously, with the appeal raising over £12m after just a week, and DEC corporate partners and other businesses are supporting the appeal.  

Admiral Group has committed to donating £100,000. NatWest have donated £50,000 and are supporting customers and colleagues to donate as well. The Co-operative Bank & Coventry Building Society have donated £20,000 and are encouraging customers and colleagues to donate via their JustGiving page.

Shoppers at Morrisons and the Co-operative Group can now donate to the DEC appeal at check outs; in addition, Co-operative Group has made a £100,00 donation. British Airways is collecting donations from passengers while Greggs and Transport for London are hosting bucket collections for the appeal.

Meanwhile Big Give, the UK's leading match funding platform, have raised more than £500k for the appeal in just 5 days.

The £12 million raised so far includes £2 million from the UK Government through its UK Aid Match scheme.

Simon Beresford, Director of Fundraising & Marketing at the DEC, said:

 “We are extremely grateful to all the people and businesses who have already stepped up to support the DEC Venezuela Earthquake Appeal. Yet again, the UK public and our corporate partners have shown their immense generosity and desire to help those impacted by disasters.

“Vital aid is already being delivered to survivors in Venezuela thanks to donations given to the DEC’s appeal. But we can reach more people, families and children with your donations. If you are able – please help.”

Some of the many businesses supporting the appeal are:

• TNT Sports is covering the appeal across their channel over the next two weeks.
• TalkSport are supporting the appeal with commentators reading out text to donate numbers across their coverage of the World Cup
• Disney+, Amazon Prime, Paramount+, and Discovery+ are all supporting the appeal with free advertising space across their respective Video on Demand platforms.
• Post Office are accepting cash donations at branches across the UK
• BT Tower has been featuring appeal messaging.
• Royal Mail will be featuring the appeal on the postmark
• Morrisons and the Co-operative Group are offering customers the opportunity to make a donation at checkouts.
• Greggs are holding in store bucket collections.
• Transport for London are supporting the bucket collections at underground stations
• Barclays are featuring the appeal on digital screens in branches and banner of their homepage and accepting donations in branch.

The Disasters Emergency Committee appeal is raising funds to reach people affected by the catastrophic earthquakes in Venezuela, which have killed more than 3,600 people and injured 16,700 , many of whom need of medical care. The UN estimates that 680,000 children require humanitarian assistance.

Overall, 96,000 buildings are believed to be damaged or destroyed, including 400 schools.

DEC charities and their local partners have been working in Venezuela for many years. They are providing emergency medical treatment, delivering meals and food baskets, and ensuring people have access to clean drinking water, but funds are urgently needed to reach more families.

Broadcast appeal films to support the response by DEC charities have already been seen by viewers on the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, Sky.

Radio appeals have been broadcast to listens across national and local radio stations, and adverts during TNT sports live sports coverage.  

Venezuela was facing a severe economic crisis before the earthquakes. Now homes and businesses across several states have been destroyed or damaged, with a particularly serious impact reported in the La Guaira and Greater Caracas areas.  

Many survivors are sleeping in makeshift tents on the street and urgently need shelter, food and water. The country’s hospitals are under extreme pressure treating those in need of medical care.

The DEC brings together 15 leading aid charities at times of crisis overseas. Fourteen member charities are responding in Venezuela including British Red Cross, Oxfam and Save the Children.   

Notes to editors:

Media enquiries please call 020 7387 0200 or 07930 999 014 (out of hours)    

For more information or to request interviews in advance please contact: press1@dec.org.uk

A collection of images and video footage of the aftermath of the earthquake and DEC charities responding is available here.

About the DEC

The DEC brings together 15 leading UK aid charities at times of crisis overseas to raise funds quickly and efficiently. In these times of crisis, people in life-and-death situations need our help and our mission is to save, protect and rebuild lives through effective humanitarian response.  

The DEC’s 15 member charities are: Action Against Hunger, ActionAid UK, Age International, British Red Cross, CAFOD, CARE International UK, Christian Aid, Concern Worldwide UK, International Rescue Committee UK, Islamic Relief Worldwide, Oxfam GB, Plan International UK, Save the Children UK, Tearfund and World Vision UK.    

Fourteen of the DEC’s 15 member charities are either responding or planning to respond in Venezuela and will receive funds from this appeal.  

Through UK Aid Match the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) gives the British public the opportunity to have a say in how the UK aid budget is spent whilst boosting the impact of the very best British charities to change and save the lives of some of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people.  

UK Aid Match has increased the impact of a number of DEC appeals to help those in need around the world, including most recently in the Myanmar Earthquake Appeal, the Turkey-Syria Earthquake Appeal and the Middle East Humanitarian Appeal.

Enquiries about UK Aid Match and UK Government support for Venezuela should be directed to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Newsdesk. Please email newsdesk@fcdo.gov.uk .  

How to donate:    

Online: dec.org.uk

Phone: 0370 60 60 900

Text to give/SMS: text SUPPORT to 70150 to donate £10.

Donate over the counter at any high street bank or post office or send a cheque by post to: DEC Venezuela Earthquake Appeal, PO Box 999, London EC3A 3AA.