Where can I get funding for my creative business or project? Our recommended list of funding for creative businesses

Dear Design Doctor

I have just graduated and want money to start my own creative business. I am in debt and need funding for my creative business to get it off the ground. Have you got a list of funders and funding for creative businesses like mine?

The Design Doctor for this real life question is Patricia van den Akker, Director of The Design Trust:

“This is one of the most popular questions that I get asked. The quick answer to your question is:

There is very little funding for creative businesses available in the form of cash.

There seems to be a bit of a myth that there is funding available to set up your own creative business or projects. Please read another Design Trust blog post Busting the Myth of Funding that covers that topic.

There is definitely no funding available to cover your debt. I think you might need to look at your money management, start budgeting your income and expenditure more precisely, and potentially get in touch with your local Citizens Advice Bureau to tackle your debt situation as soon as possible.

Start taking responsibility now to improve your financial situation. I know it’s hard, but it’s crucial if you want to make a living as a creative. Having financial worries is really tough and will stop you from being able to be as creative as you would like to be. And … if you have a record of debt then no funder will supply you with money as it’s too big a risk for them to take on.

If you need money quickly, I strongly suggest that you look at your marketing and develop your business ideas into a real business, rather than wasting a lot of time trying to get funding.

The reality is that most small (creative) business funding that has been available in the past ten years or so has been used to provide business advice or training, residencies and to support practice development . There are very few opportunities for getting actual cash that you can use as you wish.

General ‘pots of money’ are not available, but instead, it comes in the form of subsidised advice or support and for specific purposes.

Our recommended list of resources and actual funders for creative businesses and projects are:

• The UK Government’s website has general information about support to help you grow your small business, including a Finance Finder with some current national and regional funding opportunities.
• The Crafts Council has limited it’s funding significantly in the last few years due to government cuts and no longer provides business support or grants. Check out their website for details about opportunities & resources.
• QEST (the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust) provides one of the best training and development support schemes, but only for the very best of designer makers who want grants to develop their skills or travel abroad to learn from masters.
• The Arts Council of England offers various funding opportunities for creatives and organisations as well as the Develop Your Creative Practice programme which supports individuals who are cultural and creative practitioners and want to take time to focus on their creative development.
• Creative Scotland’s Regular Funding Network. The aim of Regular Funding is to provide three-year funding support for a range of organisations that make a vital contribution to the current health and future development of the arts, screen and creative industries in Scotland.
• The Heritage Crafts Association invites craft practitioners and organisations to apply for small grants to fund projects that support and promote endangered crafts. There is a maximum of £2,000 available for each project and they work with you to develop and support your work.
• The Department for International Trade features opportunities to export, to show at international trade shows at a reduced rate, and to get funding and practical support for exporting. Unfortunately most export support is only available if your turnover is above £100K.
• The British Library & IP Centre provides very useful online training (often for free) and business support workshops at their premises in Central London. Very useful around intellectual property and copyright. They also run grants & growth programmes for larger businesses.
• Enterprise Nation is a membership organisation for entrepreneurs with a wide range of free online training, meet ups & events, as well as grants.
• If you are interested in creating a creative social enterprise then check out the UnLtd programme and the School for Social Entrepreneurs.
• For disabled artists, there are some funding options through the Unlimited Awards and Shape Arts.

More recently the government has started some new initiatives where you get so-called Start-Up Loans, which are soft loans. So this is not a financial gift, but these are loans that you need to pay back over time with a relatively low interest rate, and they come with additional business support as well. For example:

• Start Up Loan for businesses in the UK who have been trading for less than 24 months.
• Creative Industry Finance for cultural organisations and businesses in design and fashion who want to improve their business plans and want specific financial advice to grow their business.
• The Prince’s Trust Enterprise Programme supports unemployed young people aged 18-30 to work out if their business ideas are viable and whether self-employment is right for them.
• There’s a really helpful list of current funding available to small businesses in the UK on the Small Business website here.

The reality with most other funding is that it is very often only available to charities or existing organisations. If you are an individual, with a limited track record, you will be very unlikely to be considered for these types of funding.

Recommended list of additional resources for funding for creative businesses and projects

There are various good resources available with up to date information about funding for creative businesses. Sign up for their newsletter and follow them on social media to get the latest information. The Design Trust regularly publishes opportunities for funding for creative businesses on our Facebook page, so do join us there too.

• Artquest, run by the University of the Arts, has a very good range of creative funding and awards, especially for visual artists – search under ‘funding’ or ‘grants’
• The Artist’s Information Company, has one of the best listings for awards and grants (although you need to become a member to access certain information)
• Craft Scotland has a good listing for grants and awards in Scotland, where there are in general more grants available than in England.
• Goldsmiths Business Catalyst Grants for jewellers and silversmiths provide grants for purchasing new equipment, developing new products or services, and adopting new processes and new ways of working,
• The UK Government’s website with funding and support for businesses who want to grow.
• The Grant Finder website is a generic website with available funding in the UK.
• Directory of Social Change is a great website with lots of specialist publications, guides, and workshops to help you fundraise.
• Turn2Us has various grants for people in need

Alternative financial income?

Although there isn’t ‘a pot of gold’ waiting for you,  there are plenty of ways to get discounted or free business services.

You might also look into alternative ways of financing your business such as credit unions if you are looking for relatively small amounts of money.

One of the most interesting ways to raise finance now is through crowdfunding. It can be great if you are looking for extra funds to attend a trade show or organise an exhibition, to publish your own book (some great examples of illustrators and designers who have done that), and also to create a small batch produced product (ceramicists, product designers, and furniture designers have done really well in this area). There are various crowdfunding websites such as Kickstarter or Indiegogo. 

The Design Trust are big fans of crowdfunding as a great opportunity to get money in, but also as a practical market research exercise to see who is interested in what you do. We have run two successful crowdfunding campaigns to raise funding for our Dream Plan Do journals in the past, raising over £18,000 in one day!

If you are looking for funding for equipment, then I suggest that you look at other ways of getting the equipment you need, as funding for this is very hard to get. Look at leasing your equipment (e.g. laptop) from the supplier whereby you rent the equipment and pay a monthly payment with interest. You won’t own the equipment, but very often any technical issues and updates are included. Alternatively, look at buying second hand (although make sure that warranties are valid!), look at renting a studio that includes some of your equipment already (e.g. colleges are very often useful for that too).

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