Book a place at Funding Focus
*Maximum one ticket per organisation
About the event
The South West London CVS network has come together to connect local groups with funding opportunities and information.
This special interactive one-day event is a fantastic chance to meet funders in-person, build relationships, ask questions, explore new trends, and strengthen your skills in securing funding.
The day will offer presentations, panel discussion, one-to-one conversations and practical workshops – all designed to support South West London organisations at every stage of their fundraising journey.
With a wide range of funders and local grant givers, whether you’re just starting out, or looking to scale up your impact, this event will help you build confidence, develop your funding approach, and make valuable connections to take your project ideas forward.
The ticket price includes a choice of workshops, lunch and refreshments.
Groups based in SW London are eligible for a 50% discount. Please contact sara.milocco@cvalive.org.uk at Croydon Voluntary Action to obtain your Croydon discount code and remember to apply it at checkout.
With limited places and the significant discount for local organisations, don't delay in booking yours now!
Speakers at the event
Helen Mathie
Director of Policy & Partnership, London Funders
Helen joined London Funders in November 2020. Her role is involved with local funder networks and place-based collaborations – how we can strengthen our local cross-sector links in London’s places and spaces to benefit civil society.
Debra Allcock-Tyler
CEO, Directory of Social Change
Debra has worked in the charitable and voluntary sector for nearly 40 years. She has served as a trustee of several charities including being the co-founder and first Chair of the Small Charities Coalition, as well as serving on the Charity Commission's SORP Committee and much more.
Fraser Mycroft
Funding Officer, The National Lottery Community Fund
Funding Officers from The National Lottery Community Fund, representing South West London boroughs, will provide a brief introduction and overview to the current Fund offer, eligibility, share some reflections and answer your questions.
Cris Vasconcelos
The National Lottery Heritage Fund
The National Lottery Heritage Fund's vision is for heritage to be valued, cared for and sustained for everyone, now and in the future. Since 1994, £9.5 billion has been raised by National Lottery players for more than 53,000 heritage projects in the UK.
Shanly Foundation
Shanly Foundation aims to support worthwhile causes across a wide spectrum that benefit the local community including support for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, the homeless, mental health, people with physical disabilities, life limiting illness.
Kristina Glenn MBE
London's Giving (Merton)
Kristina joined London’s Giving as an advisor in November 2019. Her work includes supporting individual schemes, promoting and developing new partnerships and funding and articulating the strategic contribution that place can make to social change.
Tom Lowe
Groundwork
Groundwork combines on the ground knowledge with decades of experience of running funding programmes for global brands, charitable foundations and public bodies.
Funders
Workshops
Purposeful AI Fundraising
Ian McLintock, Founder, Charity Excellence Framework
There's lots of talk about how to write 'cool fundraising prompts' but that's not how AI works. This session will introduce you to purposeful AI, to help you find funding and write the kind of really good, human-centric bids that your funders will want to get.
Budgeting for Funding Applications
Genny Jones, Community Accountant, Merton Connected
Evidencing need in SWL: 8 key datasets to look at
Kate White, Manager, Superhighways
This interactive workshop will show you how to evidence local need quickly and credibly using open datasets that funders recognise. We’ll demo how to find area insights at borough, ward and smaller geographies in South West London to reference in your applications. You’ll leave with a focused set of go‑to sources, with tips for how to use alongside your own data, and links to step‑by‑step guides and examples you can share and use with your team.
An Introduction to Income Generation Strategy
Hilary Bell, Community Support & Development Expert, Croydon Voluntary Action
Join this session for a focused look at income streams. You'll hear about the pluses and minuses of different funding streams and consider the resources needed to be successful, plus the opportunity to identify the most suitable strategies for your organisation.
