The Trust is extremely grateful to its Partners for the support we receive in fundraising knowledge, expertise and contacts. Three of the Trust Partners (Westcountry Rivers Trust , Exmoor National Park Authority and Somerset County Council) have nominated officers time to assist us in our fund raising endevours:-
From Westcountry Rivers Trust – Adrian Dowding
Adrian is a senior member of staff at Westcountry Rivers Trust who sits on the Bid Team and the Resource Committee in order to help co-ordinate and direct strategy and workload within the organisation. Adrian first assisted with funding and project management in 2010 when Westcountry Rivers Trust won and delivered a partnership project to renaturalise Head Weir at the base of the River Mole to the value of £500,000. Since then Adrian has submitted, won and managed a multiple of projects; the most notable of which include the River Improvement Fund (2011 – 2014) delivering over £100,000 worth of river improvements; the Catchment Restoration Fund – TRIP (2012 – 2015, Taw River Improvement Project) with a value of £1.8m. More recently Adrian has continued to win funding for river improvements and catchment water management through governmental, European and private or charitable funds. A first phase of a £1.2m. Barnstaple Yeo Opening fish migration project has been secured (Jan 2019) and 2 complimenting projects worth £100,000 each installing fish easements in the Rivers Teign and Bradiford Water.
From Exmoor National Park Authority – Philip Kiberd
Philip has been involved in projects, project development and funding for over 25 years, primarily within the cultural heritage sector. As Regional Development Officer for Museum, Libraries and Archives in the West Midlands he worked closely with HLF West Midlands (as it was called at the time) as an advisor on regional strategy, project bids, mentor to applicants and as a grantee. He was part of the MLA team co-ordinating the L2012 Cultural Olympiad. His involvement in projects has seen him develop and secure funding for community projects in Northampton, Gloucester, Brighton & Hove, London and the South-West for projects ranging from small volunteer activities to large-scale engagement and infrastructure. These have included projects on Hindu, Sikh and Jewish heritage, the Asian soldier in WW1, Medieval Gloucester, West Midlands Archive Consortium and Sailing Tales in Minehead. As well as sourcing funding for heritage, he also has experience of grant-funding from the Arts Council, Big Lottery and many individual charitable trusts and foundations. He currently oversees the Partnership Fund grant scheme for Exmoor National Park Authority, along with the CareMoor for Exmoor donation scheme and supports project development and funding bids throughout the National Park.
From Somerset County Council – Stephen Dury
Stephen (‘Steve’) is a Project Manager at Somerset County Council and has experience in fundraising, particularly in European funding programmes (Interreg). He has developed successful funding bids for 6 Interreg projects (WAVE, DROP, WOW, SPONGE, TRIPLE C, and CO-ADAPT), that have brought in around £10m. of funding to Somerset over the last 10 years, benefitting various partner organisations. These projects have all been related to water and environmental management and climate change. Steve has been the overall Project Manager on three of these projects.