St Columb’s Trust in Londonderry is a charity that has not previously been able to afford to pay workers the living wage.
Project manager Anne Marie Gallagher is working to change that from September for their eight workers.
It has consolidated its services and changed its opening hours in order to make it work.
“Charities and some small businesses can find that difficult to try to achieve,” Ms Gallagher said.
“Mainly because funding, especially for charities, doesn’t really reflect the cost of doing that for staff.
“It has definitely involved us cutting our cloth to what is the most profitable way for us to operate St Columb’s Hall but also taking into account the needs of the community too.
“We want to be making a positive contribution to our community that we should be paying our workers enough so that they don’t have to visit food banks.”
But she acknowledged that it was not possible for everyone.
“I know that a lot of charities and the community and voluntary sector in the city are struggling just to do what they are doing right now,” she said.
“They’re not getting those increases in funding to reflect those higher costs.
“We know bills like energy are higher and their funding hasn’t increased so they can’t afford to do it.”
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