TV and literary celebrities gathered at Coutts' head office for The Funding Network's (TFN) latest Dragon's Den-style event last month, to pitch the causes of the charities closest to their hearts to a group of over 200 prospective donors.

The event smashed the previous record of £50,000 in one evening, with an astounding £114,500 raised for the six charities represented. With Gift Aid the final figure is likely to be over £120,000.

Although each of the six charities had set their sights on raising £5,000, they all more than doubled their target with Channel 4's Jon Snow taking New Horizon Youth Centre, working with vulnerable young people, to new heights with an amazing £35,850.

Peregrine Banbury, Managing Partners of Coutts Landowners' Client Group and a Trustee of the Coutts' Charitable Trust, set the pace by donating £750 to each charity and announcing that the highest personal pledge would receive a dinner for six people at Coutts. This was enough to inspire two individuals to make personal pledges of £5,000.

Dr Frederick Mulder, Founder & Chair, The Funding Network commented; "In the last six months, people have been just as keen as ever to support good projects at our funding events. It's been exciting to see that, despite the credit crunch, a wide range of individuals are taking to this model of giving that's both personal and satisfying and are, in the process, realising that it's not that expensive to make a huge difference to hundreds of lives."

Mark Evans, Head of Family Business and Philanthropy, Coutts & Co, added; "We are delighted with the outcome of the latest TFN event at Coutts. In helping our clients create their own effective giving strategies, we always discuss the importance of making giving fun and putting money aside to fund smaller spontaneous gifts. The Funding Network has tremendous potential to change the culture of giving in the UK."

The causes represented by their celebrity ambassadors were:

• Author Nick Hornby presented on behalf of Treehouse , which educated young people with autism
• Designer Katherine Hamnett presented for the Environmental Justice Foundation , which empowers those affected by environmental abuses in the global south
• Entertainer Richard Stilgoe represented the Orpheus Centre , a performing arts centre working with young people with disabilities
• Holby City star, Amanda Mealing pitched on behalf of S.A.F.E , which uses professional theatre to educate people in the slums of Nairobi about HIV and AIDS
• Actor Jonathan Pryce presented for Friends United Network , which supports children from extremely disadvantaged single parent families
• Newscaster Jon Snow represented New Horizon Youth Centre , which works with vulnerable young people

The Funding Network, the first public giving network for social change causes in the UK, has been described as speed dating for philanthropists. Since it was set up six years ago by art dealer and philanthropist, Dr Frederick Mulder and three other donors, it has raised more than £1.6m for over 300 charities. The idea was that giving as a shared experience could be more enjoyable and that giving could therefore become much more widespread.

The operation of The Funding Network is simple: a member of the network nominates a charity and the person who then pitches for that charity has six minutes to tell the audience what they would do with £5000. After the presentations, the audience then pledge to each project, with organisations often walking away with more than they had pitched for. Barriers to giving are kept low, with no obligation to give and a minimum gift of £100 where gifts are made, though gifts range all the way from that to several thousand pounds. Meetings are open to all prospective givers who have pre-registered via The Funding Network's website , and the model has spread to Bristol, Leeds, and Oxford. This event, to be hosted by Coutts & Co, was the 5 th event that The Funding Network has held this year so far.

For more information on Coutts' award winning philanthropy services, visit www.coutts.com/philanthropy