Hello! Spring is finally here and The Funding Network team is excited about the whirlwind of events coming up, kicking off with Leeds on 25 March, London on 4 April and Oxford on 28 April. We’re also busily planning events on 2 June and 26 September in London. In the middle of the credit crunch we’re delighted that TFN’s generous members raised over £45,000 in January for 5 wonderful organisations and YTFN supporters contributed £5,000 for 3 youthful charities in March!

See you very soon at an event and happy reading!

Faye, Sonal & Tillie
Fred and TFN Trustees (Alan, Andrew, Iain, Iona, Jenny, Sharath, Shuna)

Great news! Volunteers for Social Justice had a photo-story (Slavery in India) published in Intelligent Life magazine. The article refers to the touring exhibition that TFN helped to fund in September 2008. 

Take a look at images from the photo-story here >>>

Zaytoun: Has made impressive progress since their recent presentation at the January 2009 Funding Evening. They have received interest for their produce from the prestigious River Café and gained coverage in The Guardian.
Read the full article here >>

Health Prom: This project presented at the April 2008 Funding Day. Here they offer news on how the £8,376 TFN grant has gone towards the construction of a building, which will soon become an operating theatre and recovery room where they can offer essential medical support to vulnerable communities in Northern Afghanistan.
read more >>

Pump Aid: At the December 2008 Funding Evening Pump Aid raised over £20,000 for water and sanitation programmes in Malawi. Over 4,000 people in rural communities in Northern Malawi will gain access to clean water and sanitation for life.
Read the full report here>>

March 25th: TFN Leeds - Funding Evening
Since launching in September 2006, TFN Leeds has gone from strength to strength with each of their 3 annual events attracting more people and raising more funds. With the 2009 event just round the corner, on 25th March, they are confident of breaking the £100,000 barrier for the total raised to date. Read more >>

April 4th: TFN London - Funding Day
TFN London will be holding its next event at Holborn Bars, London, EC1 with Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) on Saturday 4 April from 10:00am - 4:00pm. If you would like to attend, please register by clicking here.

April 28th: TFN Oxford - Funding Evening
TFN Oxford launched in May 2008 at TFN co-founder Polly McLean's house. Raising almost £25,000, they are now excitedly planning for the next event on Tuesday 28 April at The North Wall Arts Centre, Oxford. If you are interested in finding out more about the event view the recent invitation here >>. For all recent news visit the TFN website here>>

May 20th: TFN Toronto - Funding Evening
TFN Toronto is delighted to have raised a total of $457,576 (approx £257,000) with their first seven events. The next Funding Evening will take place on Wednesday 20 May 2009. Find out more at http://tfntoronto.com 

June 2nd: TFN London - Funding Evening
Our summer event will be on Tuesday 2 June 2009, supported by BarclaysWealth on the 30th floor of their Canary Wharf offices with stunning river views. At last summer’s event at Coutts we raised an impressive £130,000 for 6 charities, presented by Jon Snow, Jonathan Pryce, Nick Hornby, Amanda Mealing, Richard Stilgoe and Katherine Hamnett. This year we want to involve you in finding well-known presenters for the event. Read more >>

January 29: TFN London -Funding Evening @ The Lincoln Centre       
At our last 2009 Funding Evening on Thursday 29 January, kindly hosted by Brunswick, TFN supporters raised just over £45,000 for Zimbabwe Health Training Support, Vision Housing, Zaytoun, Talk About Choice and Kings SIFE.  Read more >>

March 4: YTFN - Funding Evening @ The Hub
“It was so inspirational to see so many young people so motivated about making a difference.”
Around 80 people came to see three fantastic projects: SOKO – Kenya, COAP (Children of Addicted Parents) – UK and Vana Vano Tamba – Zimbabwe. Read more >>

“Remember remember
That you are a member
TFN have the task
Of having to ask
For annual fees.
So send them in – please!”
A poem from TFN Member Lynn Ten-Kate

Member Offer: Open a CAF Charity Account and receive £25 for your chosen charities!  Visit www.cafonline.org/charityaccount and enter promo code TFN09 when applying.

It’s Time for Action!!
9.9.9 It’s Time is an exciting new online movement that will seek to mobilise a critical mass of the population to take a number of individual and collective actions on 9 September 2009. Ambassadors include Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Zac Goldsmith and our very own Pete Yeo! Read more about the campaign. www.999.itstime.com

Premier: Age of Stupid
The feature film dramatisation of climate change, in which many TFN participants are investors and which was produced by TFN London's former co-ordinator Lizzie Gillett, had its People's Premiere on March 15th. Watch TFN Chair, Fred Mulder speaking to Sky News about the event here>>

Feature: Philanthropy UK
Philanthropy UK’s Outlook for 2009 includes a contribution from Alan Hodson, TFN Trustee, "I may be more likely to give to UK charities as the recession is creating even more need, and I’m keen to encourage individuals or groups who are showing commitment to resolve issues within our local communities’.
Read more >>

Finally, TFN has recently gone interactive! We have set up groups on LinkedIn and Facebook, where you can join us, post messages and news and network with like minded people. We look forward to seeing you in cyberspace!