The Observer

If you've been approached by a 'chugger' on a street corner once too often, take heart. An organisation called the Funding Network aims to demonstrate that it is possible to give to charities in ways that do not require you to be mugged for standing orders by pushy, if polite, direct marketeers.

The Funding Network talks of trying to turn charitable giving into a more collaborative and collective experience; of making giving as enriching to the donor as to the recipient. And it seems to have found a winning formula. Karina Vestergaard, for example, regularly travels from her home in Brussels to attend Funding Network meetings: 'What I like is that the group of people who have been brought together are very diverse, of all ages and backgrounds. If you want to give something back to society, it's a great way to do it.'

The idea, devised two years ago by London art dealer Frederick Mulder in discussions with friends, is simple. Every few months the Funding Network organises an open public meeting, usually on a Saturday in central London, at which representatives from organisations seeking funding explain why they need help.Their informal presentations are followed by a pledging session, where those who have turned up to listen can, if they wish, make donations. Pledges are called out, and the totals are scribbled up on flipcharts, so the atmosphere briefly resembles a cross between an auction and a revivalist meeting. A typical Funding Network event will have presentations from about eight to 10 projects and will raise between £40,000 and £60,000.

The organisation talks broadly of funding 'social change' causes. In recent months, support has been offered to ventures as varied as a micro-credit [small lending] venture in Zambia and a creative writing project for prisoners in Britain who want to write stories for their children. Support is also given to research projects, including, for example, one linked to the Jubilee campaign to revoke developing world debt. 'We don't do donkey sanctuaries, or things like the Royal Opera House. We support, I suppose, slightly edgier things,' says Mulder, explaining that many of the projects helped are relatively small ventures for whom a few thousand pounds represents a significant boost.

Mulder and several of the other founders of the Funding Network are also active in the Network for Social Change, a long-established friendship and support group of relatively wealthy people who meet twice a year to discuss ways to use their money to good effect. Unlike this latter organisation, which prefers to maintain a relatively low profile, the Funding Network is keen to attract as many people as possible. 'People give widely different amounts, but it doesn't seem to matter,' Mulder says. The minimum pledge is £100, and until recently members were asked to commit to donating about £1,000 a year through the Network, though this limitation has now been removed. There is no obligation for those turning up to become members, or indeed to make any pledges at all. What the £50 membership does confer is the right to put up ideas for projects to support and to take part in the selection committee that chooses the causes which will be put to the meetings.

Marika Freris, who has been attending the meetings for about 18 months, has so far sponsored two proposals, one for a permaculture [environmentally sustainable production] project in inner-city areas and another for a women's sustainability project in the Amazon, each of which successfully raised several thousand pounds. She finds particularly valuable the opportunity to meet individuals who are actively engaged in the projects. 'A lot of the projects are very moving. Yes, I've invariably shed a tear or two,' she says.

The next Saturday meeting of the Funding Network takes place in central London on 3 July, but the group is also experimenting with evening meetings, and the second of these has been fixed for Thursday 27 May at a community health centre in London's Clerkenwell. In another extension of the original idea, a regional Funding Network has been created in Bristol and the south west, while plans for a similar venture in Scotland are well advanced. 'There are a lot of issues that need help out there,' Mulder says. 'Many of us would like to be doing this work ourselves, but instead we're doing something else which pays us well, or well enough. This is a way of helping someone else do the work which we would ideally like to be doing.' Or as Freris puts it: 'This is a much more enjoyable way of giving, much more personal.' The Funding Network can be reached at 020 7586 1442, or via www.thefundingnetwork.org.uk.