Help keep a national home for women poets open

Since 2018, the Rebecca Swift Foundation has directly supported more than 4,000 women poets across the UK, helping them find community, develop their craft, reach new readers and build sustainable creative lives.

Through the Women Poets’ Network, more than 500 poets now appear in our national membership directory, while over 1,100 women poets connect through our free private online community.

But the future of this work is not secure.

Like many small charities, we are operating in an exceptionally difficult funding environment. We need to raise £10,000 to give the Foundation a vital three-month window in which to keep supporting our community while building the strategy, fundraising pipeline and financial foundations for what comes next. Reaching £15,000 would allow us to go further, bringing in additional staffing and fundraising support and beginning to build a small financial reserve.

This campaign alone cannot guarantee RSF’s long-term future. But it can give us the time and capacity we urgently need to build one.

What your donation can make possible

• £6,000 would cover our most essential operating costs, protecting the time needed to pursue grants, partnerships and new sources of income.

• £10,000 would give us a vital three-month window to keep our doors open, continue core programming and protect the time needed to develop our strategy and build a stronger fundraising pipeline.

• Reaching £15,000 would allow us to go further by bringing in additional staffing and fundraising support and beginning to build a small financial reserve.

Why our work is needed

Writing can be isolating. Financial pressures, caring responsibilities, disability and unequal access to literary networks can make it even harder for women poets to find the time, confidence and connections their work deserves.

That is why much of RSF’s work has remained free or deliberately low-cost. Our programmes bring poets together, create professional opportunities and support both creativity and wellbeing.

Our impact

Since 2018, RSF has:

• Directly supported more than 4,000 women poets.

• Built the only national membership directory dedicated to UK women poets.

• Created workshops, panels, conferences and regional events shaped by poets’ needs.

• Developed paid opportunities, skills training and peer support.

• Published Woman, Mapped with Fly on the Wall Press.

Putting women poets into print

Woman, Mapped is tangible evidence of RSF’s value: bringing women poets into print, connecting their work with new readers and creating a visible national community around voices too often pushed to the margins.

Help us build the next chapter

Together, we can put women poets on the map, where they belong.

Please donate today if you can. If you cannot donate, sharing this campaign with friends, colleagues and literary networks can make a real difference.

Every donation and every share helps buy RSF the time it needs to build a sustainable future.

Photography credits:

Women Poets' Festival in partnership with the National Centre for Writing, Joanna Millington

A Poet's Pause led by Tolu Agbelusi, Lola Oh