Catalyst: Endowments
This included looking after the physical buildings at the Watts' Gallery Artists' Village in Surrey and funding the gallery curator.
It has been possible to massively enhance existing relationships with our donors, who feel they have a strong connection with the future of the Artists’ Village.
Fundraising experiences were very positive. The trustees were very engaged with the Gallery - meeting and acting very quickly. The matching element of the grant was also incredibly useful for the Trust, who found it a powerful message to relay that £1 donation will be worth £2. With donors giving at substantial levels it made a real difference for someone to know that if they gave £25,000 it became £50,000.
Another important learning point was around timing. The fundraising campaign was successfully linked to the plans for the bicentenary of GF Watts’s birth in 2017. The message was then that through the endowment, the future could be secured - 200 years after his birth.
The endowment fundraising campaign was completed successfully in 2016.