New Member: Siobhan Harper-Nunes
Siobhan Harper-Nunes, BSocSci, MSc Urban Regeneration
I am delighted to join West Midlands Funder’s Network as one of its newest members. I will bring my lived experience to the network and I hope to bring this experience as a useful member of this illustrious group.
I have worked in and around funding for decades. In the 1980s I was the lead on a vital oral history project, funded by Barrow Cadbury, capturing histories of a lost generation, now celebrated in BMAG. Later as Community Safety Officer (SRB4), I funded a plethora of crime reduction projects in North Birmingham. In 2000 I became the New Opportunities Fund Officer (now lottery) and managed the city council’s vast Neighbourhood Renewal budget. I also designed and ran Birmingham’s first External Funding Unit and was instrumental in establishing the regional funding officer’s forum, making it easier for national funders to interface with local communities across the West Midlands.
16 years ago, I founded Shakti Women offering a range of support from capacity building and mentoring to diversionary activities to girls at risk or arts-based confidence building projects. We give women and girls a safe space to learn, find their voices, and reach their potential. So I know first hand what it’s like to be on the receiving end of funding or those horrid rejection letters!
However, my very first experience of funding was in the early 80s, when as a student and single mother, I was introduced to the George Fentham Trust, who paid my nursery fees leaving me free to win a 2:1 (hons) in Social Policy. Before that, I had no idea such organisations existed, but I am eternally grateful that they do.
When I was a funder, I saw first-hand the difference a grant can make; whether it’s an opportunity to feel less isolated, or the support to rebuild a life and regain one’s dignity. We have the power to change lives. Some of the services we fund are a sad testament to a society that leaves elders alone or children in crisis, but whilst we live in an imperfect world, the work of this network is vital.
West Midlands Funders Network strives to make funders support relevant, accessible, and timely. I am delighted to be a part of that.
