Fundraising with a difference

Facing the ‘Dragon’s Den’ in Radstock by James Brown

I’ve done a few unusual things in my time as OTR’s Development Manager. Running five miles in a santa suit springs to mind, but a 90 second pitch for £500 in front of a packed hall was definitely a first.  Luckily, I wasn’t alone. I had invited Andros, a member of SPACE and Your OTR; eloquent, passionate and great company on a Friday evening expedition to Westfield Community Centre near Radstock. 

The event was organised by Radstock and Westfield Big Local, a £1 million lottery funded programme driven by local residents and community groups. OTR joined 13 other groups and charities to pitch for ten £500 prizes, with the winners selected by the audience. This was the tenth Dragon’s Den held in the area.

So, how do you make your case in 90 seconds? The local amateur boxing club had two boys skipping and shadow-boxing while the head coach made his plea for new equipment. A primary school had carefully rehearsed their pitch with children confidently proclaiming their need for an allotment to grow fruit and veg.  

I asked Andros a simple question; “Andros, OTR offers free, confidential counselling & listening to young people in BaNES. Why is this important?” Andros nailed this in 30 seconds, using their lived experience of being a trans teenager and finding a safe space at our SPACE group to express themselves, with access to 1:1 support. They then asked me, “So James, what will we do with the money?”, giving me the chance to describe how we’d fund our Radstock listening services.  

Once all the pitches were done, we tucked into tea and cake while the three dragons and compere added up the public votes. Each participant can vote for five other groups, preventing partisan, block voting for your own group. The relief when OTR was announced amongst the winners was tinged with sadness that any of the groups should leave empty-handed, but that’s dragon’s den!  

Andros expressed what a positive experience it was being involved. “I really enjoyed taking part. It was fun and an interesting new experience for me pitching in front of an audience. I’m so proud that we were successful and that the money will go towards helping young people to get the support they need.” 

Finally, a big thank you to Rob Wicke and all the team at Big Local for organising this event and supporting so many local groups and charities to enrich the local community.