by John Harris | May 13, 2025 | news
This week we heard that we had succeeded in an application worked on with Collective Encounters Tessa Buddle – for £15,000 from the Garfield Weston Foundation. Their work has grown year on year, and they now run participatory theatre programmes that work with adults in areas of the region where there is still little opportunity to participate in the arts (Creative Communities); with women, and particularly the radical contribution women have made to the region (Women In Action); family groups whose voices are seldom heard including cared for young people and their families/ carers, unaccompanied young migrants, ethnically minoritised carers and families, and Older People. They have researched and published a guide to dementia-friendly arts activities). The Centre for Excellence provides training and sector development nationally and internationally, and the Radical Makers programme reached people who would normally be excluded from such opportunities.
by John Harris | May 13, 2025 | news
As consultants with the Lloyds Bank Foundation Enhance programme we ar delighted to be working with the Bradford African Community. We met with Usmani the CEO recently and have taken on supporting them in diversifying their funding. We will work on a pipeline of potential funders in order to help them raise the funds to carry on with their work. The charity supports people from number of refugee camps across East Africa including the Congo Kinshasa, Burundi, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Zambia, Sudan, Zimbabwe, and Somalia and enables them to ‘become productive members of society’ as Usmani put it. This includes ESOL classes and job readiness programmes and helps people into volunteering roles so that they can gain much needed experience. The charity states that “Through our integration in the British main Communities, we experienced various challenges such as: Language barriers, Isolation, Difficulties to navigating new system, Emotional health difficulties and Limited income.”
by John Harris | Apr 11, 2025 | news
In these tough times for fundraising a success is more than welcome! John has worked with Together Dementia Support for 3 years – helping raise over £1,000,000 over that time – but it has got harder as all fundraisers know. This makes this grant of £65,000 over two years very, very welcome. What is it for? The funding will support a Carer Support Co-ordinator – a full time post at 35 hours per week. They will manage a large caseload of carers, keeping in touch with them all and prioritising who needs a visit. They will run Dementia Cafes, Carers’ Zooms and Carer Training courses alongside other staff and the volunteer Carer’s Champions. This support is for the carers of those who live with dementia – 360 unpaid carers who care for nearly 300 people with dementia. For many of them, support provides a lifeline that helps them avoid carer breakdown.
by John Harris | Apr 11, 2025 | news
John completed an application for 3 year funding for co-ordinating and developing the many volunteers who are at the heart of the Hippodrome Theatre in Todmorden. £23,000 was secured for developing a new volunteer strategy, employing a part-time Volunteer Co-ordinator and paying for training for the volunteers in lighting, sound, heritage/conservation and first aid. This will really support the Hippodrome in its transition to a redeveloped and extended building.
by John Harris | Feb 15, 2025 | news
Third Sector Consultancy is about much more than fundraising on its own. John and Rachel have worked with Otley Action for around 6 years now – this latest episode was to facilitate the Away Day for trustees and staff. It included presentations from two of the staff (one the Digital Inclusion worker and the other working to develop support for people with dementia). We helped participants review the current situation and to think ahead in a strategic way – given the tough environment charities now find themselves in. The discussion around strategy included assessing the funding needs for the next 2 years. Over the past 6 years we have guided Otley Action in carrying out comprehensive 360 degree consultations – leading to the local Lottery officer asking to use the report as an exemplar.
by John Harris | Feb 15, 2025 | news
It’s great news when we’re successful – especially with a new client as, of course, we want to deliver value for money. We’ve just heard that we have helped Move2Change win a grant of £20,000. This will fund Adventures that Change. Adventures that Change (AtC) is an outdoor wellbeing project working with communities across the South Pennines area. AtC will deliver a range of outdoor programmes aimed at enabling people to get outdoors, get active and get connected. The project will provide an accessible, safe and supportive experience that builds people’s skills and confidence. Move2Change will work with a network of community partners to ensure the AtC project reaches those that will most benefit from getting outdoors – those who face significant barriers including finance, isolation, accessibility and a perception that the outdoors is not for “people like me”. The benefits for participants include an improvement in mental/physical wellbeing; development of social connections/ relationships; development of confidence/self belief. The project will add value to the existing support and service delivery of our partner network and enhance the experience of their clients. AtC will have 3 elements; AtC Experiences – adventure tasters and wellbeing activities. Activities will include walking, climbing, cycling, trail running and orienteering; AtC Skills – building on the Experiences programme – development of outdoor skills, knowledge, confidence, working as a group. This can be through a short bouldering programme and learning about safety and equipment. It could be a navigation and hill safety programme; AtC Explore/Challenge – new challenges and new areas. This follows the first two elements and people take on more adventurous challenges in more challenging areas e.g., the Yorkshire 3 Peaks walk or a wild camp.
