A coaching workshop on philanthropy was held for invited local arts groups last month.

Securing funding for arts organisations requires ongoing time, effort and energy. In recognition of this, the Ara Toi team organised the workshop to help the arts groups learn about new pools of funding to complement those provided by Dunedin City Council, and organisations such as The Otago Community Trust and the Lottery Grants Board.

Jenni Giblin of the Giblin Group led this workshop which covered making the case for investment, securing sponsorship from small to medium business and philanthropic and donor contributions.

Participants in the workshop held phone conversations with Jenni in late 2019 to ascertain their fundraising situation and these discussions assisted Jenni in developing the programme of learning. Follow-up calls will also occur in April to check progress.

Feedback about the workshop has been very positive as this quote from workshop attendee, Nicola McConnell from Brand Amp indicates, “Jenni is a great source of knowledge and the opportunity to network and meet other organisations was valuable too. Please make sure the Ara Toi team know how valuable this training was.”

The Ara Toi team aim to continue to lobby for funding to deliver programmes such as this in the future.