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Essentials in Application Writing

This course explores the key skills needed to write strong applications and effectively communicate about your work to successfully achieve funding from Trusts and Foundations.

This course explores the key skills needed to write strong applications and effectively communicate about your work to successfully achieve funding from Trusts and Foundations. As we see increased competition in fundraising from Trusts and Foundations, there has never been a more important time to learn how to communicate your story to funders and stand out from the crowd.

This course will give you the foundational skills and knowledge to approach Trusts and Foundations, with useful guidance on how to ‘make the case’ and generate ideas that maximise the potential of the support. We’ll examine useful language tips to strengthen proposals, how to budget your work, the potential of AI in developing proposals, and how to incorporate effective evaluation that produces impact assessment. We’ll also cover how Trusts and Foundations assess proposals and methods to research potential funders – please note that this course will not cover applications to Arts Council England or other statutory bodies.

The sessions will use practical exercises to help reinforce your learning and you are asked to come prepared with a project in mind that requires funds.

This course will be delivered virtually via Zoom in two 3-hour sessions, taking place on Wednesday 12 March 2025 from 10am-1pm and Wednesday 19 March 2025 from 10am-1pm. It is necessary to attend both sessions to complete the full training.

Who is this for?

This course is aimed at those new to fundraising; those looking to achieve multi-year funding support or launch a big project in a new area; or those just looking for a refresher in this important area of fundraising.

If you wish to create clear and concise bids, want to ensure you’re gathering the right evidence to make the strongest case for support and understand what questions funders ask themselves about your bids – this course is for you.

You will learn:

• How to craft and build an effective fundraising Case for Support
• How to write persuasively to win funding
• How to respond to funding criteria
• How to research funders
• How to prepare effective budgets that tell your story
• How to build evaluation into your proposal to demonstrate impact
• How to build relationships with Trusts and Foundations for the long term
• The latest trends in Trust and Foundation fundraising

Price

This course is priced at £75+VAT in total for both sessions.

A concession rate of £50+VAT is available to Freelancers, Sector Partner Members, Charities and Arts Organisations with an annual turnover of £500,000 or less.

Our current Sector Partners are:

• Arts@Leeds
• Arts Marketing Association
• Association of British Orchestras
• The Audience Agency
• Contemporary Visual Art Network
• Family Arts Campaign
• Music Mark
• National Museum Directors Council
• One Dance UK
• UK Theatre

Trainer: Fern Potter

Fern Potter has been mentoring and advising colleagues in the arts for many years, both as a regular trainer for Arts Council England and as a lecturer in Fundraising for the Cultural Sector at City, University of London (MA Arts Management).