West Berkshire & North Hants charities invited to compete for up to £100k funding
Melanie May | 5 February 2019 | News
Greenham Trust is offering local charities from across West Berkshire and North Hampshire the opportunity to win up to £100,000 of funding in a Dragons’ Den style competition.
Now in its fourth year, ‘Pitch to the Panel’, hosted by Greenham Trust returns on Wednesday 8 May 2019, at The Corn Exchange, Newbury, with charities in need of funding for projects invited to apply by Friday 8 March.
Only one application can be made per organisation and applicants must register their projects on the The Good Exchange and then email the Trust. Six shortlisted projects will be announced on 4 April when the public can then vote online for their favourite project. Each vote registered will release an additional £1 donation from Greenham Trust. Voting is restricted to one vote per person with online voting open from 4 April to 6 May inclusive.
Successful applicants will pitch their ideas at the Pitch to the Panel event in front of a live audience to a panel of judges who will decide whether the funds are distributed across a maximum of six projects or one winner takes it all.
New for this year’s event, is the golden ticket, which every audience member at the event will be entered into a prize draw to win. The winner will be drawn at the end of the evening, and invited to nominate either a single project or a number of projects on The Good Exchange, within Greenham Trust’s area of operation, to receive grants of up to £5,000 from Greenham Trust. The winner must be present to claim the award.
Tickets to attend the Pitch to the Panel event are free of charge and can be reserved online, from The Corn Exchange box office, or via 0845 5218 218.
Chris Boulton, chief executive for Greenham Trust said:
“We are thrilled to be able to provide local charities with a platform to share the incredible things they do each and every day for extremely worthy causes.
“Previous winners have received funding for major capital projects such as new equipment at West Berkshire Therapy Centre to exciting initiatives that simply would not have happened without this financial support. We urge projects of all types to apply and we want to reassure applicants that we will support them throughout the application process.”
In 2017, SeeAbility received £10,211 towards the refurbishment of its gym and replacement of its 20-year old equipment.
Miriam Oppenheim, SeeAbility’s Trusts and Communities Manager said:
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“The grant has been a real game changer and has enabled SeeAbility to be more innovative at a time when the young people we support, need it the most. If we hadn’t received the funding from Greenham Trust, it would have taken us longer to secure this specialist equipment which is now making an extraordinary difference to peoples’ independence each and every day.
“When you have a forum like The Good Exchange that allows you to reach out to a number of different donors, it’s worth putting in the extra effort to develop a larger application. It is worth it in the long run too because you could build some really valuable partnerships out of it!”
About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.