Small charities are the lifeblood of struggling communities and Small Charity Week 2023, which draws to a close today, has been a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the invaluable work done by some 160,000 small UK charities which make up 96% of the voluntary sector.

The Funding Network (TFN) is one such small charity and for the past 20 years we’ve been raising funds and strengthening the capacity of other small charities through our lively crowdfunding events.

Every year we have the privilege of hearing first-hand about the fearless work being undertaken by some 50 small charities and what is abundantly clear, is the singular role they play in helping people facing unthinkable hardship to navigate an increasingly complex world.  A world in which layers of disadvantage are heaped one on top of another and then compounded by wider contextual factors - economic instability, geography, climate change and now pandemics.

Small charities, with passionate leadership often emerging from the problems they address, deeply embedded in the communities they serve, and able to harness extraordinary volunteer support, are able to find their way into the dark crannies of suffering that our fast paced world overlooks.  They extend a kind hand to those within and help them to find their way out.

But because they are so focused on helping others, it is often a struggle for them to find the time, capacity or means of shaping their work into a compelling narrative, and sharing it with people who can help them.

Which is where The Funding Network comes in with our live and now virtual events which are open to all to attend and offer a unique opportunity to hear directly from highly impactful organisations about the problems they address and their solutions to them.

By way of example, on Tuesday night at our Summer Connector event hosted by Rathbone Greenbank Investments, we celebrated and raised funds for three amazing small charities: Give a Book which enables prisoners to take part in book clubs and connect with their families through reading; Artistic Spectrum which provides art therapy to people with autism spectrum disorder in Yorkshire, and Greener and Cleaner which has established a one stop hub in a shopping centre in south London helping hundreds of people to reap the benefits of sustainable living.

In just 30 minutes, a group of 90 raised a total of £60,000 for the three charities. These funds will be transformative to their work but more importantly, to the people whose lives they so deeply enrich.

Sarah Turvey OBE, Director of Prison Reading Groups, who presented on behalf of Give a Book said "We were of course absolutely thrilled (and a bit overwhelmed) by the outcome and delighted that we all did so well.  The money is wonderful but so too is the confirmation that the work we all do is recognised as important. It was all just magical."

You can read more about our work our 20^th anniversary impact report and if you share our belief in the power of small things to bring about big change, sign up to our mailing list and come to an event. There’s no pressure to give money, but we think you’ll probably want to!

Eugenie Harvey

TFN Chief Executive