General News
27 June, 2024
Success for grant writing workshops
Last week’s inaugural Pitch Night saw a full house of energetic community groups, putting their grant proposals before an expert panel. Similar to the TV show Shark Tank, the night was designed to provide opportunities for community organisations...
Last week’s inaugural Pitch Night saw a full house of energetic community groups, putting their grant proposals before an expert panel.
Similar to the TV show Shark Tank, the night was designed to provide opportunities for community organisations to get feedback on their grant ideas, strengthen submissions and increase their chances of success.
The panel consisted of Julie Driscoll from the Avoca, Maryborough and St Arnaud Community Bank, Jeannie Clark from the Maryborough Community House and Alistair Shaw from the Bendigo Volunteer Resource Centre.
Pitch Night was the final session in a series of grant writing workshops facilitated by councillor Anna De Villiers and was a project out of the partnership between the Maryborough Volunteer Resource Centre (MVRC) and the Central Goldfields Shire.
Chair of the panel, Julie Driscoll, said she was extremely impressed with the quality and diversity of the presentations.
“There were some terrific project ideas outlined and we hope the feedback we were able to give will help to see these proposals come to fruition,” she said.
“The Pitch Night looks like becoming a popular and regular feature on the shire’s calendar. It will increase grant writing skills to assist community groups to gain more funding from a wider range of sources.”
MVRC vice president Jeff Hoober said the Pitch Night was an outstanding success.
“We know there is plenty of funding out there and it has been concerning that our shire might have been missing out in recent years because of lack of training in finding and applying for grants,” he said.
“The night capped off three wonderful local events since National Volunteer Week and proves we still have a strong volunteering core in the shire.
“Over recent weeks we have seen an enthusiastic network of volunteers and groups building as they have shared their ideas and expertise at the Volunteer Thank You Night, the Changing Face Of Volunteering Forum and the Pitch Night.”
Mr Hoober said the grant writing workshops, Pitch Nights and a range of other volunteer and community training packages will continue to evolve as the MVRC and the council recognise the expressed need out there.
Training workshops will continue at the Council Hub, on July 1, at 10 am — where a number of groups will share their volunteer induction and sign-up processes. Anyone is welcome to attend.