On June 24th, 200 people gathered in the Atrium at Coutts to listen to six well-known presenters make their case for a charitable project each is personally involved with. It was a spectacular evening raising £130,657.

We piloted the use of paddles, which people used to call out their bid during the pledging session - it was a room filled with generosity and almost effortlessly, each project received far more than they had pitched for, with one project raising just over £40,000.

Following the event, we received notes of thanks from each of the presenters as below:

Jon Snow, British Television Newscaster, presented the New Horizon Youth Centre:

"Last night was an absolutely amazing event for us at New Horizon..uplifting and beyond the very unexpected and hugely generous financial boost to our work, a massive morale boost. The staff, the young people and the old codgers like me are completely overwhelmed by the generosity of your members. I don’t know how to begin to thank you all. For a hack like me, it’s a wonderful STORY too. So I guess all I can do at this stage is to thank you all, to hope you will come and see us at work, and see in due course how your generosity if working too. So this comes with humble gratitude and warmest regards." Jon Snow

The New Horizon Youth Centre is a day centre working to ensure that every vulnerable young person finds a home and the necessary tools to progress in their lives. The project, which managed to raise £40,783, will now be able to provide one to one coaching and group sessions every week for four hours, enabling those at a very basic level to develop their literacy and numeracy skills to a standard that will build on their confidence and self esteem and equip them to make a positive contribution to society.

Jonathan Pryce, award-winning stage and film actor/singer, presented Friends United Network:

"The Funding Network evening at Coutts was a great opportunity for me to share my passion for the work of Friends United Network with an enthusiastic audience. I was delighted by the generous pledges which will help FUN to provide befrienders for some of London’s most disadvantaged children." Jonathan Pryce

Friends United Network raised £28,777 to pay fully trained volunteers who will provide well over 10,000 hours of unpaid volunteering time during the minimum 2 year befriending commitment they will be making - making a lifelong difference to the children they befriend.

Amanda Mealing, television actress and star of Holby City, BBC presented SAFE, Supporting Arts For Education

"It was my first time presenting at The Funding Network event and I found it to be an incredibly life affirming experience. There was a room full of good will, hope and action. It was an infectious and wonderful reminder that people do care, and given the opportunity, want to make a difference." Amanda Mealing

SAFE raised £20,556 towards funding a year's Touring Costs beginning in September 2008. This would deliver performances to over 60,000 people, with a high priority placed on sex education in schools. SAFE GHETTO will develop and deliver workshops specifically aimed at school-leavers, allowing students the opportunity to ask difficult questions with regard to their sexual health and leave school equipped with the knowledge of how to have sex safely and what risks are involved.

Katharine Hamnett, fashion designer, presented Environmental Justice Foundation:

"On behalf of myself and the Environmental Justice Foundation I would like to thank Coutts for hosting The Funding Network event and especially all the people who generously donated to the SAVE THE SEA campaign. Duncan Copeland (EJF Campaigner) is thrilled with the donation and says “EJF can do a lot with this money”. Katharine Hamnett

The project raised £11,777 which will help to cover the costs of filming, post production and distribution of a film which aims to directly reduce the impact of illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing, known as “pirate fishing”, improving the lives of poor coastal fishing communities and protecting fish stocks and fragile marine environments. The grant will also go towards research, design and publication of the print report and the logistical organisation of the key events series. Central to these activities will be the development of a high-impact media campaign to draw attention, concern and action to the problem. Finally the budget will also include elements of a training programme in Sierra Leone to help local communities document the problem for themselves and develop local advocacy campaigns.

Nick Hornby, novelist and essayist, presented TreeHouse which raised £13,795 to purchase communications aids/resources which will benefit children with autism.

"Thanks so much to all those who gave so generously to TreeHouse at the Funding Network on Tuesday.  It was a pleasure to be able to present our charity to such an attentive audience and rest assured, the funds that you have donated will be very, very much appreciated by our parents and teachers.  The specialised speech and language therapy team at TreeHouse were absolutely thrilled to be able to continue with the pioneering work that they are doing with children with autism.” Tree House

Richard Stilgoe, songwriter, lyricist and musician and Founder of The Orpheus Centre:

"This is a wonderful idea, and the event is a great experience for the charities involved.   We were given much more money than we expected, and thank you very much.  The atmosphere of friendly competition is good for us, because all of the third sector is slowly having to become more businesslike, and the chance to talk to potential supporters is very welcome. Our team had a fine evening and are grateful to Coutts, who hosted the event, and The Funding Network for their generosity and imagination." Richard Stilgoe

The Orpheus Centre, that provides opportunities for young disabled adults to promote personal development through performing arts, raised £14,967. The grant will allow them to introduce five high profile artists into the Orpheus Centre as part of their new educational project Progress Through Performance Partnerships (PPP). This is a pilot project, which the centre is hoping to launch in September. It will introduce external role models, who will act as associate artists to work with the apprentices on a series of educational arts projects.

Many thanks to Coutts & Co for hosting the event.

We have now started preparing for our next Funding Day, on Saturday, 20th September (10am-4:30pm). The event will be held at RIBA, Royal Institute of British Architects, 66 Portland Place, London W1B 1AD. If you would like to register for this event click here.

Look forward to seeing you at a future funding event.

With best wishes,

Sarah