The Guardian and Observer climate justice appeal is to remain open for another few days after raising just short of £1m for charities supporting communities severely affected by climate-induced extreme weather events. After a late surge in donations over the weekend, the total had reached £940,000 by midnight on Sunday when the appeal was originally scheduled to close. The appeal will now remain open in the hope it can hit the £1m mark. More than 8,800 generous readers have so far donated to the appeal. Donations will be shared between four charities: Practical Action, Global Greengrants Fund UK, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, and Environmental Justice Foundation. The theme this year is climate justice, inspired by stories of people and communities uprooted by climate volatility, whether flooding, wildfire, melting ice or drought, from Madagascar to the Arctic Circle. The appeal has struck a chord with many readers, who in hundreds of messages left via the appeal donation website emphasised the urgency of tackling the climate crisis. “It is a privilege to do a small thing to support grassroots projects doing direct work in communities hit hardest by climate change,” one donor wrote. Sarah Roberts, the chief executive of Practical Action, said: “I’d like to say a huge thank you to Guardian and Observer readers for their support. The money will help the world’s most vulnerable people living at the sharp end of the climate crisis gain vital new skills to adapt their lives to their new environmental reality.” Eva Rehse, the executive director of Global Greengrants Fund UK, said: “Thank you to everyone who has given so generously. We are so grateful for your donations, which enable Global Greengrants and our partners in the Clima Fund to support grassroots movements for climate justice led by those already most impacted by the climate crisis – women and girls, youth, Indigenous peoples and rural communities.” Introducing the appeal in December, the Guardian’s editor-in-chief, Katharine Viner, wrote: “The stark truth is that the world’s developing countries have seen the vast majority of the death and destruction caused by climate-induced disasters, and yet they are responsible for a tiny fraction of global emissions.”