Community Fundraising Officer Izzy shares her Rank Foundation Time 2 Shine Experience
I joined Live Music Now as a Community Fundraising Officer in January last year, as part of the Time 2 Shine 2024 cohort. Time 2 Shine (T2S) is a Rank Foundation programme which focuses on personal development and building transferable leadership skills.
The programme is catered towards people who are in early stages of their careers within the charity sector, which is exactly where I was when I started at Live Music Now.
I had finished university with a first-class degree and had work experience under my belt, but still struggled to find a position within the charity sector – partially due to a lack of relevant third-sector leadership experience. I was eager to learn but nervous about fulfilling and leading the tasks that laid ahead of me.

I am so glad that I found Live Music Now and Rank, who across the year, allowed me to become more confident in my abilities and role. The programme involved regular leadership days, where our cohort could meet and discuss and aim to resolve challenges we were facing, as well as 3 incredible conferences, which were jam-packed with skills-based training sessions. Being a part of the Rank Network also gives you access to training bursaries, which I used to develop my comms and fundraising skills.
I’ve achieved so much over the past year as a result of the T2S programme, along with the amazing mentorship by my line manager and colleagues at Live Music Now.
- Live Music Now Volunteer project: I led a year-long project designing and implementing Live Music Now’s first official volunteer programme. This included writing and designing documents and planning the strategy for integrating volunteers into the work we do at Live Music Now. This programme will be going live on our website in early 2025 so if you’re looking for a volunteering opportunity for a great cause, keep an eye out!
The London Landmarks Half Marathon: I co-led Live Music Now’s involvement in this event, stewarding the runners and organising live music at the race and afterwards! We’re participating in LLHM again in April 2025 with a whole new team of runners!
Big Give Arts for Impact: I led the comms for the Big Give match-funding online campaign in May 2024, which raised an amazing £23,000 for Live Music Now’s Songs and Scones programme. You can read more about Songs and Scones here.

- Sounds of the Season: I organised Live Music Now’s first official public concert in December 2024. It included 4 of our amazing musicians and ensembles at the stunning St Botolph’s church. We received incredible feedback from this event and are hoping to run it again in Summer 2025.
Aside from these accomplishments, the T2S programme has left me with elevated confidence, a new suite of transferable skills and a supportive network within the charity sector that I can take with me throughout the rest of my career. I have also made life-long friends on this programme. It has been a year that I will cherish and although I will greatly miss being on the programme, I am excited for the next stage of my career at Live Music Now and as a T2S alumnus. Thank you to the Rank Foundation and to my colleagues at Live Music Now.
You can read more about the Time 2 Shine programme and the other amazing work the Rank Foundation does here.

