Donations from people's £600 energy payment could go a long way to helping the most vulnerable in society, the Community Foundation NI (CFNI) has said.
CFNI manages and awards grants through donations to charities and causes seeking to help those most in need and has launched its Energy Support Appeal.
Its CEO Róisín Wood said that if people were not in need of the £600, or a portion of it, they would gladly ensure it reached those who would benefit most.
Read more: Thousands to be sent new £600 energy support vouchers after technical fault
The Energy Bills Support Scheme in Northern Ireland is being delivered by the UK government to help with rising energy bills.
All households in Northern Ireland are due to receive a £600 payment under the initiative.
"We don't want anybody under pressure, we know some people absolutely need it so we're not guilt-tripping anyone here," Róisín said.
"We're just saying if you feel you can donate, we will make sure it's safely taken in and makes a real impact where it goes.
"We know there's a massive demand out there, we've already given out £500,000 under our older people's support scheme.
"But we're massively inundated, we've a lot of applications sitting with us at the minute that we can't fund."
She added that they were seeing the impact the cost-of-living crisis was having on people.
"We know also that it's the tip of the iceberg, even the groups we fund have come back to us and said if there's any more money that comes through, that they would need it again.
"For those families of older people who are isolated, or people on low income, or for families with disabilities or young parents, this is a really tough time.
"Particularly at the minute when it's so cold, there's massive demand.
"That breaks my heart a bit and I don't know why we're not jumping up and down about that."
"During Covid, we revised how we give out money and we can really get it out quickly now - we just know the impact it's going to have because the groups we fund know who needs it, they know how to get it out fast to them and I think that's what we need right now."
One of the groups which has received CFNI funding in the past is The Trussell Trust, which operates 45 foodbanks across Northern Ireland.
Jonny Currie is the NI Network Lead there and said they were seeing some frightening new developments.
"We're just getting the data in still, but we've likely just had the busiest November and December on record, that was certainly true for August and September past," he said.
"Anything that helps foodbanks in a difficult period like this, especially in the winter where stock gaps are appearing where they haven't before, it could make a huge difference.
"Foodbank use is up across the board, the first six months of this year we had 10,000 people in NI accessing one of our foodbanks for the first time.
"We saw a really clear trend in increased use of foodbanks in rural areas west of the Bann, which we hadn't seen as high and increase before but it definitely increased there."
He said that it was up to those who made policy to ensure that something was done to stop the slide towards normalising living at crisis point.
"Some new trends that we're seeing is that roughly 1 in 5 people who are accessing our foodbanks have someone in the house who is in work," he said.
"One of the things our foodbanks hear most is 'I never expected to be here', so it is catching people by surprise.
"Foodbanks should really only be a short-term response to need and unfortunately we're at a point in NI now where they're starting to become institutionalised.
"We can't normalise foodbank use but unless there are major policy changes, we're heading that way.
"No-one should have to need a foodbank and they shouldn't have to exist."
Donations can be made at communityfoundationni.org or by contacting CFNI at 028 9024 5927.
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