Funding the Future: Diversifying Income for Charities & Social Enterprises

• Ready to shake up your organisation’s funding?
• Curious about corporate giving?
• Eager to explore social investment?
• Want to learn about new income streams and reimagine the future funding of your organisation?

Join the Empowering Communities Partnership for a whole day filled with fundraising expertise, skill-sharing and opportunities for networking, with lunch and refreshments included! This event sold out quickly the first time we ran it; this year it's back with more tickets and a bigger programme! It's also in a new location; Dereham Memorial Hall.

We will be joined by a range of local funding specialists and those with lived experience of diversifying their voluntary, community or social enterprise(VCSE) organisations' income streams. We welcome any Norfolk-based VCSEs to join us for the chance to learn from experts and peers, ask questions of local funders and make new connections!

Maybe you’ve felt intimidated or overwhelmed by where to start with new fundraising streams? Or perhaps you’re unsure how to explore your options? There will be chances throughout the day to network with both funders, practitioners and fellow VCSE professionals, gaining insights, expertise and useful contacts.

Here’s what to expect:

• Keynote speech from Richard Morris, Co-Founder and CEO of The Giving Machine, on funding challenges, innovation and changing the mindset of VCSEs
• Your choice from 1 of the following 6 workshops:

1. Workshop: Unlocking Youth-Led Funding
2. Workshop: Funding Pathways for Skills and Employment Projects
3. Workshop: Winning Public Sector work: A Practical Guide to Tendering for VCSEs
4. Workshop: Write Bids that start with Strengths: Embedding ABCD into Funding Applications
5. Workshop: Earning the Ask: Connecting with your Audience on Social Media
6. Workshop: Building Meaningful Corporate Partnerships that Fund your Mission

• A range of information stands with local and national funding opportunities, support and signposting

• Inspirational panel discussion on Social Investment featuring Good Finance, Rebecca White and SIB Group

• Plenty of opportunities to network with speakers, contributors and attendees to learn from each other

• Delicious lunch from local Dereham caterers Tall Orders, plus tea and coffee throughout the day

Other things to note:

This whole day event, unlike many of our other events, incurs a charge of £20 + VAT and Eventbrite fee per participant . This is to ensure attendance and increase the scale and reach of the event as well as to contribute to the costs of the day, which are subsidised by the Empowering Communities Partnership. Lunch and all refreshments are included in the price. We kindly ask that you pay via credit/debit card when booking. The price has been kept the same as the 2025 event.

Tickets are limited to a maximum of 2 per organisation, to allow as many VCSEs as possible to benefit from the day.

The event space is fully accessible on the ground floor of the building.

If you require any adjustments to help you take part, please get in touch at communities@voluntarynorfolk.org.uk

Getting to Dereham Memorial Hall:

Parking:

There is some on-street parking for Blue Badge holders directly outside the Memorial Hall.

Morrison’s car park (access via Station Road) is directly opposite the Memorial Hall, and the Hall has an arrangement with them for those attending Memorial Hall events. However, during the day this is limited to 3 hours only. Dereham has several free car parks with no time restrictions. Cherry Tree car park is the largest and is about a 10 minute walk to the Memorial Hall, so we would suggest parking there and walking to the Hall.

Public transport:

There are good public transport links to Dereham via local bus services, notably the Excel service from Norwich excel - Norwich - Dereham - Swaffham - Kings Lynn - Wisbech - Peterborough | First Bus and the Konectbus service number 8. 8 - Norwich to Dereham & Toftwood | konectbus

We extend a huge thanks to the fantastic speakers and contributors to the day who are kindly sharing their knowledge and expertise.

This event is brought to you by Voluntary Norfolk, FUSE Network & Community Action Norfolk (CAN) as part of the Empowering Communities Partnership.