Funding and fundraising

Cash for Culture, a guide from Creative Lives, has been specifically created to help cultural groups fundraise for their group.

Across the country, thousands of creative groups regularly get together to have fun, learn and share skills, express themselves and make life better within their communities. But all of that costs money – often not a lot – but some level of investment is required, whether it be in-kind support or small pots of cash.

Richard Rosoman, treasurer of Malvern Festival Chorus, talks to us about how they received hundreds of free pounds in free funding from easyfundraising.

Raising funds for your music group can be a challenge, especially when faced with increasing costs of venue hire, instruments and competitions. But some of our members are receiving free money easily from funding platform easyfundraising and it’s something we recommend other groups do too.

This guidance describes the current situation with regard to Gift Aid and the voluntary music sector. Please note that Gift Aid is available to UK recognised charities, regardless of whether or not they are also registered charities.

In this recording of our guest speaker webinar (original event 23 April 2021), we explore the ins and outs of writing a funding application.

We welcome John Rostron (Making Music's Manager in Wales and fundraising consultant), Kim Macari (Arts Council England) and Abby Charles (Tŷ Cerdd).

Topics covered include: 

Covid-19 has caused financial difficulties across the board, but the good news is that different types of financial support are now becoming available.

For leisure-time music groups, new or repurposed pots of grant funding are the most viable. There are a whole range of funds to apply for and different amounts available, and a little money can go a long way to making a difference.

When fundraising for your group, there are many websites that you can use to take and manage your donations.

With most online donation platforms you can create a page for your group, where you can tell your story about who you are and what you are fundraising for, as well as add images and branding. You can then point people to this page where they make their online donation.

We know one of the biggest worries music groups have is the long-term financial health of their group. Even groups who make a surplus each year can have that nagging thought: ‘what happens if something goes wrong next year?’ More money would mean less worry and more stability, and perhaps more importantly it would mean more opportunities to try new things and ways of enjoying making music.