Reflections from the Fundraising Fellowship Scheme 2025-26
We asked our Fundraising Manager Yvonne to help us look back at the past year of the Fundraising Fellowship Scheme and to share what has been happening.
Amy Dalton-Hardy sharing her fundraising knowledge and Yvonne waiting to help the group with insider tips and insights
I’m so proud of Creative Black Country’s Fundraising Fellowship Scheme which has just completed its fourth year. Following a call out last summer we invited 22 community groups, small organisations and creatives to be part of the new cohort for 2025-26.
The Scheme was developed in 2022 in response to the demand and need for fundraising support that creative communities across the Black Country were telling us was much needed. Over this time we have engaged with 99 groups to create a community and a sense that ‘you are not alone’ when it comes to the challenges of funding to stay afloat and keep your creative projects alive.
Once again I’ve been working alongside the brilliant Amy Dalton-Hardy who brings such a great energy and wealth of experience to inspire our cohort.
We don’t think there is another scheme quite like this anywhere else (I’m happy to be challenged!) with a mix of group sessions, meet the funder events and 1-2-1 mentoring.
Many of the people we support may have initially been successful with a small grant to pilot a project, they might attend ‘meet the funder’ webinars or sign up to funding newsletters, but they feel ‘stuck’; what do they do now?
We like to meet people where they are on their journey, sit down with them and ask:
Where are you?
Where do you want to be in 6 months, 1 year, 5 years?
What do you need?
Why do you do what you do?
We aim to break down barriers and bust myths, raise confidence to get funding ready and say ‘why not you?’
Sessions we’ve delivered this year include
‘A Welcome Event’ to meet the cohort and explore organisational development
Community funding options including Awards for All and how creative projects might frame their applications with Rob Jones
Arts Council insights, focusing on Project Grants for first time applicants or those who have been declined
Final session: Our cohort’s journey so far, the current funding picture and what’s on the horizon
1-2-1 Mentoring and Funding Surgeries
Our support doesn’t end after the scheme, cohort members become part of the Black Country Funding Network for Arts & Culture receiving information about funding opportunities and options to attend funding events.
It’s a challenging funding landscape out there - we don’t shy away from the struggle - but we try to offer skills, knowledge, confidence and experience. Above all we offer hope, support and community so people don’t feel so isolated.
From our feedback we feel we have gone some way to achieving that.
We wish this current cohort and our previous cohorts all the best with their future fundraising!
Images by Lee Allen
Here’s a flavour of what our participants thought…
“I feel more confident and more connected even though the environment for funding is very difficult - thank you.”
“Excellent insight, great objective, no-nonsense approach to the issue of funding.”
“Really enjoyed today - felt inspired and less daunted by the idea of making an Arts Council application.”
“I’ve learned a lot during these sessions - thank you for 'simplifying' or helping me to understand the often daunting world of funding. But also, opening my eyes to the many, many funding avenues I can now explore. This program is brilliant, it's given me the confidence to submit my first funding applications and get going!”
If you are looking for some advice and support for your creative idea please visit our fundraising page. Here you can find out how to sign up to the Black Country Funding Network for Arts & Culture to receive our funding news and be first to hear about our events and future funding scheme.
Coming up in June we are hosting a session for freelance creatives and in July we are welcoming the National Lottery Heritage Fund to speak about their funding programmes.