Funding and fundraising

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.

Orchestra Tax Relief (OTR) is a government initiative for instrumental groups (not only orchestras!) where you could receive a payment from HMRC equal to a percentage of your production costs.

Despite being called 'Orchestra Tax Relief':

• the initiative can apply to many types of instrumental group – so don’t be put off if your group is not a traditional orchestra 
• you don’t have to be paying tax to claim it.   

Groups who put on eligible performances can submit a claim to HMRC each year for the payment. 

A committee is a group of enthusiastic people who care about their group or organisation, want to see it thrive and are willing to take responsibility for making that happen. A committee position requires good organisational skills, a willingness to give up some spare time and the ability to co-operate with others.