Catalyst funding delayed

Plans are on hold for the launch of a funding scheme that will help arts organisations with little or no fundraising experience to extend their fundraising capacity and strengthen their financial resilience. Arts Council England (ACE) had earmarked a 1 April launch date for a £7m one-off grant scheme to support arts organisations with little experience to build their fundraising capacity (see AP243), but its plans have been put on hold pending a review of information being gathered in applications to its other two Catalyst funding strands, both aimed at larger companies. Successful applicants for these – the Catalyst endowment and Capacity building schemes – were due to hear the outcome of their bids by 31 March, but this has also been put back, and an announcement will now be made “soon after” the local government elections on 3 May. ACE is now aiming to launch the next stage of its “organisational resilience” work in Autumn 2012.