In the spirit of sharing the uphill struggles as well as the good times…
I was hopeful of the ScottishPower Foundation. “Working with Gold” seemed to tick all their boxes. I asked them to take into account the grant from Exeter City Council. On 9 November I received a “No”.
We received an unprecedented number of high standard applications and the selection of projects that the Foundation is able to support for next year has accordingly been a very difficult task… etc etc etc… it is unfortunately not possible to support all projects and it is therefore with regret that we inform you that your application was unsuccessful. As outlined in the Foundation’s application guidance documents we are unable to provide individual feedback due to the number of applications that we receive.
If you could permit a spot of cynicism, I suspect in the end it didn’t tick the unmentioned-but-ultimately-most-important ‘Scottish’ box.
I didn’t even get a rejection letter from the Elephant Trust. Their website says: “If you have not heard by 6 weeks after the application deadline then your application has not been successful.” And so 20 November came and went in silence.
And finally, the Arts Council. Sheesh was it hard work to put the application together, in terms of the sheer amount of information required, and black hole of user-friendliness that is their Grantium system. It was a factor in my autumn slump. I was exhausted after submitting it. Then yesterday, I got the “No”.
Not quite finally. I had high hopes that Digby (ie St Loyes) would get a Community Builder before the end of the year, but the latest news seems to indicate that it will be more like spring 2018.
All of this means that I’m going to have to talk to the Council and rework “Working with Gold” into something that can be delivered with the funds and support available.
