Networks Funding – New Giving Circles – September 2021

What is it?

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

This new round of networks funding will look to stimulate an exciting range of new self-initiated Giving Circles in the arts.

A Giving Circle is a form of network philanthropy where groups of individuals donate their money and time to establish and run a funding ‘pool’ and then as a group, decide where to give funds away.

This type of philanthropic support is flat in structure and democratic.  Groups of people come together to fund something that is important to them, which in turn strengthens their commitment to the cause. A great example is the Philadelphia Black Giving Circle, which aims to cultivate charitable giving amongst the black community in Philadelphia.

Often self-initiated giving circle are small groups of friends (or other closely connected social networks), who may meet in living rooms or pubs (such as Kew Group in South London (where members give c. £50-100 per month) or Give Inc in Ireland (where members give £1 a day)) to discuss which causes they want to support.

Arts Fundraising & Philanthropy will offer core financial support to Giving Circles across England to help them support arts and culture projects and initiatives. We offer funding towards the development of new Giving Circles, or to support those that are already established to help them do more, develop training events, seminars or meetings, with the aim of strengthening arts philanthropy and building stronger giving networks across the sector.

We are particularly interested in supporting Giving Circles that will support donors new to the arts or those from culturally diverse backgrounds, for example, taking into account language, religion, race, sexual orientation, gender, age and ethnicity.

For example, in Nov 2019, Arts Fundraising and Philanthropy supported Akulah Agbami and the Black* Artists on the Move network to encourage artists in different geographical areas to develop funding circles, with the aim of allowing the network to make more art. This included monthly get-togethers in local libraries, online check ins and peer-to-peer application critique groups.

Please take a look at our website for details of previous applicants and the fantastic projects we’ve been pleased to support as part of our Networks funding.

What can we support?

We are able to fund both virtual and in person networks, understanding the important role of both accessible online opportunities and real-world connections. Organisations and groups can apply for the following levels of support but any relevant expenditure for an event or activity will need to take place before March 2022.

• Up to a maximum of £2,500 to support the development of a Giving Circle, or the running costs of one that is already established to support the arts and culture. Part of the funding could also be used as a match fund to encourage new donations into the arts. Funds can cover the costs of co-ordination, participants’ travel costs, venue hire, catering and speakers/guests.
• Up to a maximum of £1,000 will also be allocated to successful applicants so that Arts Fundraising & Philanthropy trainers can support the long-term development of each Giving Circle, or can support those organisations that want to establish new Circles from scratch.  Trainers will be selected based on their expertise, lived experience or knowledge of the community of focus.

We would prefer to support networks and groups that have not previously received funding from the Networks programme. We can support unconstituted networks, i.e. those not linked to an established organisation.

How can I apply?

If you would like to apply for this round of Networks Funding, please email your proposal in either written or as a film to david.johnson@cause4.co.uk, to reach us by email no later than 12.00pm (noon) on 22nd October 2021. Your proposal should be no longer than four pages of A4 or 5 minutes long for video submissions.