Donations

In 2011 CCANW joined the Big Give Christmas Challenge, a match funding initiative that combined pledges (secured by the charity) with donations in a ‘Challenge week’ in early September and a further match contribution from the Big Give’s own Sponsors Fund, all of which was only accessible to CCANW if a previously agreed target was reached. We were successful in meeting our target and made a total of £3,894 through the Challenge.

Auctions

Artists also donated works that were auctioned or sold for our benefit, bringing in £3,874 in 2010/11, £2,632 in 2011/12, and £1,344 in 2012/13.

In early 2011 CCANW held its first art auction in Gloss gallery in Exeter (who offered their space, catering and other support for free) with works donated by an Exeter artists group and a range of other artists we had been working with, including David Nash, Peter Randall-Page and Graham Rich. The auction was organised with the help of our Chairman Peter Young, one of the artists/exhibitors.

A second fundraising art auction was held in CCANW’s Project Space on 26 March 2012. This auction, which had a similar target to the previous one, was preceded by an exhibition of work for auction 3-25 March. A third and final auction was then held at the Innovation Centre on 3 December 2013 to support Soil Culture artist residencies, accompanied by a ‘taster’ exhibition.

Friends scheme

In 2009/10, a Friends membership scheme was initiated, bringing in £1,019 in that year, £810 in 2010/11, £1,361 in 2011/12 and £912 in 2012/13.

A single membership was £12 a year, concessions (those aged 60+, unemployed, students and under 16s) £10 and joint membership £18. In return, Friends were offered 10% off ticketed events, sales of art works and books. An annual pre-Christmas event for Friends, donors and volunteers was initiated in 2010. At January 2011 there were 147 Friends subscribing.

Sponsorship

In 2009/10, sponsorship brought in £750, in 2010/11 £1,500, in 2011/12 £1,250 and in 2012/13 £950.

Between 2006-10 sponsorship tended to be ‘in-kind’ – for example the design of The Animal Gaze guide – or of a modest nature. In 2010, CCANW set itself the target of raising sponsorship for its Fashion Footprints exhibition. Initial plans were ambitious but fell foul of a deepening recession. A target of £4,000 was set to attract eight sponsors (following the sections of the exhibition) giving £500 each. Of those, five gave goods or services of that value or above, while three gave cash. In 2011/12, for our Tree Culture programme, we raised £1,500 in sponsor support, around £300 of which was ‘in-kind’. For the first time in 2012/13, our programme (the last at Haldon) carried advertisements from four sponsors.

Towards the end of its time at Haldon, CCANW was talking to Arts & Business and other consultants on how to improve the organisation’s appeal to corporate sponsors. One of our strengths for attracting local business interest seemed to be through the success of our education programme which reached over 45 schools in the county and over 50 groups supporting hard-to-reach children and adults e.g. those with disabilities, mental health issues, multi-cultural communities and those concerned with rural and environmental issues.

Support in Kind

Applications to the Arts Council, in particular, could be strengthened by putting a value on the ‘support in kind’ that one anticipated to receive during the period of different projects.

This could include the value of staff time working in unpaid capacities, the time of volunteers and design services provided at no charge. As CCANW was frequently involved with partners, such as the Forestry Commission and the Innovation Centre, it could also include discount on rents and the provision of services.