COMMUNITY organisations in Weymouth and Portland attended a Dragons Den styled event aimed to provide support and information to help maximise their potential for funding.

Dorset Community Action, The Big Lottery Fund, Dorset County Council and Weymouth and Portland Borough Council teamed up to provide local charities, community groups and social enterprises working in Weymouth and Portland the opportunity to present their project in a Dragons Den inspired event. 

Titled, ‘Making a BIG Difference: Maximising Your Organisation’s Potential to Get Funding’, the event was centred around organisations practicing pitches for fundraising, making relationships with funders, hearing what other organisations are wanting to do in the area and gaining feedback on their specific projects to get their idea fit for funding.

The ‘dragons’ on the panel included Jenny Fish from Big Lottery Fund, Mike Byatt and Sandra West from Weymouth Asda, Chris Scally from Dorset County Council (DCC), and Harriet Laurie from a local charity, The Horse Course. 

Jayme Reaves, from Dorset Community Action, said: "The event went really well. We had 12 project presentations and 28 in attendance. The Big Lottery Fund ran a similar event in conjunction with Dorset Community Action in Wimborne back in October as a trial and it worked really well so we decided to run another event for Weymouth and Portland.

"No money was given out on the day, it was more about having councillors and other charities to feedback on your idea. It was also about creating relationships with other organisations and charities in the room and how a few groups could be working together in more efficient and effective ways."

Donna Barr, who set up Weymouth Stroke Support Group in 2012, attended the event in the hope to gain funding for stroke discharge packs she is hoping to launch in the coming months. She said: "Each applicant was given a five minute time slot to pitch their idea or project, with a five minute question and answer session to follow. 

"After the pitches were heard, the panel went off to deliberate. We spoke to all five of the 'dragons' and Sandy West seemed very interested in getting us some funding, and Jenny Fish from the Big Lottery Fund has advised us to apply for a lottery grant up to £10,000 to get our project up and running. 

We also had a lot of interest from DCC moving forward and I think Chris will be a good contact in the future."