Happy Midsummer and welcome-me-back-to-work day. I've some bad stuff to share and some good stuff.
It's been quiet on the Truffle Pig front for a few months. I was caring for my brilliant, silly and now passed-away dad, who had all the cancer. That was heartbreaking and exhausting so bid-writing and telling you about bid-writing took a backseat. Huge thanks to Lucy for keeping the ball rolling and to our bid-writing clients for their understanding.
Life happens, so this is my reminder to us all that sometimes you miss deadlines and that's alright. Human first, fundraiser second. Also, putting aside holiday pay as a freelancer is one of the best things I ever started and I recommend it. Being able to take time off work is fundamental to sanity.
Good news! Having done the considering-mortality-life-purpose that comes with any big loss I still like my job and am still good at it. I came back to a £15,000 core funding success from The Wildlife Trust from their Green Community Grants programme, £4000 from Scottish Children's Lottery (now being run by the Jackpot Community Trust), £4000 grants from William Syson Foundation and a client with a big win from the National Lottery Young Start.
FUND: Wildlife Trust Green Community Grants: https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/green-community-grants-programme, opening 24 June to 15 July. This is a chunk of Peoples Postcode Lottery money for environmental projects that has been hived off to TWT to run. It's still core unrestricted funding which is fantastic and the form is pretty much the same. You can still apply twice in the same year. Priorities are the same - under £250k turnover, top 15% IMD, supporting marginalised groups, but they've added having species/habitat restoration or protection in your objects. It's only annual grants rather than multi-year like the rest of the PPL programmes, but here's hoping they consider multi-year once they are settled in. The decision takes three months instead of finding out within the month.
If you meet one or both of their two main themes below I highly encourage you to apply:
- Contributing to nature recovery and responding to the climate emergency
- Improving nature-rich spaces and access to them
It's a mid-range form for a decent amount of useful money. I recommend going middle of the ask bracket rather than the top to increase your chances.
For those that aren't environmentally focused but meet the priorities, People Postcode Lottery grants are still available UK-wide for all kinds of community projects and have three deadlines a year.
We also had some successes from William Syson Foundation - a small core grants funder for the arts in Scotland. Their next round isn't till 29th March 2027 but put a reminder in your calendar for then because they are a great funder. The form is tiny, the money unrestricted - well worth your time to try.
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If you are a foodbank, toy bank or support project for those in poverty in the UK Arnold Clark Community Fund is open again - rolling but tends to close quickly so jump on it if you can. My experience with them has been getting a few hundred pounds for frontline community project costs like tutors and materials, and that they can take months to get back to you. A short form but a low success rate. They will fund CICs and community groups.
National Lottery Young Start now has two strands, intended to help organisations get young people more involved in planning before going for the big multi-year ones. Small Grants for up to £20k for projects lasting 1 yr is intended to help you
- improve how your organisation works with children and young people
- involve children and young people in ways that benefit them
for organisations whose work helps children and young people
- improve their health and wellbeing
- help them develop skills
- build their confidence
It is about changing what you do to involve your participants more.
The Young Start Main Grants is for £20k+ for up to 3 years and remains focused on delivering work that is co-designed with children and young people. The Lottery are a fantastic funder, offering lots of chances to make your case and give more detail in the application process. The forms are reasonable for the amounts involved and they are flexible and understanding. Both strands have rolling deadlines and are highly recommended if you fit the criteria.
New 1-2-1 advice call slots will be opening up soon for paid members and more normal fund reminder services are back. Got a niggling fundraising question? Drop me an email at phyllis@trufflepig.org.uk and I'll answer. Open to free and paid members this time because it has been a minute.
May the pigs be ever in your favour,
Phyllis
Adrian Barrett, chef, dude and a menace, 31/03/59 to 18/05/26
