UK-based literary charity receives £45K in funding from Big Issue Invest
The Arkbound Foundation, a charity focused on widening access to literature and improving diversity within publishing, have received £45,000 in funding from Big Issue Invest, the investment arm of The Big Issue.
The Arkbound Foundation is a UK-based charity with offices in Bristol and Glasgow. Founded in 2017, The Arkbound Foundation is the only independent charity in the UK that is concerned with improving accessibility and diversity within both publishing and journalism.
The organisation runs projects that empower people from disadvantaged backgrounds and deprived communities to get their voices heard, supporting books with important social and environmental themes.
The charity also mentors aspiring authors so they can produce books that are widely read, and which dispel negative stereotypes, whilst seeking to build resilience for the most excluded communities through the power of literature and journalism.
The investment from Big Issue Invest will enable Arkbound to create full time positions to help with the growth in Book sales, developing audiobook and entering the audiobook market, and developing new and existing writing services.
Danyal Sattar, CEO of Big Issue Invest, said: “Language and writing are the core of how we understand ourself as a society. Arkbound Foundation’s work in mentoring, supporting and empowering people and communities not widely represented in publishing is a powerful act. I am pleased we are standing with them, with the finance they need to grow their work.”
Val Pospischill, lived-experience founder trustee of The Arkbound Foundation, said: “Arkbound Foundation is grassroots established, lived-experience, equality and diversity founded and led. We put supporting disadvantaged people before profit, while building up on resilience and making our publishing accessible at the same time as financially sustainable. We really value the social investment we received through Big Issue Invest as this will help us take our mission further.”
