Networks Funding

At Arts Fundraising & Philanthropy, we work to empower cultural professionals by supporting them to develop their practice and find creative, new approaches to fundraising. We believe that collaboration is a powerful tool for stimulating innovation, sharing ideas, building knowledge and developing new skills. Our Networks Funding aims to achieve exactly that.

We offer core financial support to fundraising groups or networks across England to support them to grow and thrive. Our funding will contribute to the development of new training events, conferences, seminars or meetings, with the aim of strengthening arts fundraising skills and building robust partnerships across the sector.

Arts Fundraising & Philanthropy is delighted to be able to announce the diverse range of Networks awarded funding in this application round, tackling key issues within the current fundraising environment:

Contemporary Visual Arts Network East Midlands (CVAN EM) - who will use this funding to strengthen cultural and creative opportunities for artists and art workers in Priority Places in the East Midlands. CVAN EM are facilitating a discussion day aimed at artists, arts workers and organisations which will focus on place-based fundraising, especially around Arts Council England Priority and Levelling Up for Culture Places. Direct funding will cover speaker fees, travel costs, technical assistance, catering, live-streaming and accessibility costs. The ambition of the ‘What change do you want to see through culture?’ event in October is to build confidence and understanding around fundraising avenues and partnership working.

Artists for St. Stephens - who will use this funding to build on a successful exhibition: ‘After the Storm?’ by offering an exhibition and series of workshops on the theme ‘Inside/Outside’ as part of the St. Stephens Community Festival. Networks funding will cover the cost of a workshop on Fundraising and Resilience Practice for participating freelance artists and St. Stephens Church staff. The funding will cover the speaker fee, workshop materials, coordination costs, catering and travel costs. This project will, for the first time, include the notion of support for the providers of the community festival as well as for the people who come and benefit from the sharing of creativity and expression.

ART // TECH // PLAY King's Lynn - who will use this funding to support the development of place-based fundraising capacity in King’s Lynn – a levelling up area, supporting professional development and capacity building within the local area. This will be achieved through a series of three fundraising focused workshops with the aim to support individuals in developing new skills around fundraising relating to grant applications, income generation via corporate sponsorship and individual giving, local funding opportunities and an overall greater confidence in applying for funds.

Sheffield Region Brass Network - who will use this funding to support the production of materials relating to environmental awareness, of specific relevance to brass bands. The purpose of the materials is to stress the growing importance of environmental responsibility, exploring the idea of bands becoming ‘carbon neutral’ community groups and providing bands with ideas to incorporate the environmental agenda into their activities. Direct funding will cover the creation of topical infographics, videos and printed materials. Producing this online content will build awareness of the importance of band organisations creating an environmental policy and incorporating environmental issues into their activities.

Stretch Festival - who will use this funding to contribute to the costs of delivering presentations and workshops over the two day dance, arts marketing, fundraising and networking festival that will take place in three local venues across Southeast London. Direct funding will cover panelist and moderator fees, management costs, administrative and organisational costs, venue hire as well as the ongoing running costs of the growing network. The funding will support the network’s growth and visibility, also helping to inform its future mission, enabling resilience, growth, relevance and strengthening of Stretch network to integrate established cultural practitioners working across arts fundraising and marketing.

Woolwich Works - who plan to meet and spend focused time with external consultancy to begin the development of a collective Case for Support to articulate both its own mission and that of its resident artistic companies. Direct funding will cover initial consultancy costs, allowing the group of organisations to come together with clear aims and outcomes to create a coherent narrative for future fundraising applications and sponsorship proposals. The project will upskill staff members from all organisations including non-fundraising specialist staff and will supply much needed expertise to the group. Funding will also cover face to face meeting expenses where necessary, covering travel and refreshments as well as research and scoping time.

Nottingham News Centre CIC - Nottingham News Centre CIC will use this funding to support the development of their equality, diversity and inclusion education services. This will comprise of building an EDI Heritage Network and creating a Help Guide for Industrial Heritage organisations. At least three Associate EDI Consultants will be trained to support fundraising to disseminate to the sector, and the Help Guide will be shared with practitioners across the sector.