On May 13, the Cabinet Office announced the results of its survey of groups addressing child poverty. According to the poll, 65.8% of such organizations face a shortage of funding. Half of the organizations have annual working expenses of less than 1 million yen. About 5% of the groups said that they will “scale back” or “have difficulty continuing” future activities due to the shortage of funds.

The survey was conducted in December last year via postal mail and the Internet targeting 1,327 organizations that provide food support through “child cafeterias” and learning support. Responses were received from 517 groups.

Asked about means of fundraising, 25.1% of the groups said the largest amount of funds were raised through “donations,” making it the top means. Next were “subsidies from national and local governments” (16.8%) and “subsidies from sources other than national and local governments” (14.7%).

After “lack of funding,” the most frequently given responses to the question of current challenges faced (multiple responses permitted) concerned personnel, with 49.7% citing “lack of staff” and 43.3% citing “lack of volunteers.” Many also said they faced difficulty in identifying those in need of support.