Kassandra Lauren Gordon Fund for Black Jewellers

Call for Applications: Kassandra Lauren Gordon Fund for Black Jewellers

Applications to The Kassandra Lauren Gordon Fund launches on Tuesday 28 July at 10am
The Fund was set up by Kassandra to support Black jewellers and those in the allied trades facing financial hardship
Grants of £1,000 will be made available to 20 Black jewellers and those working in the allied trades
The Goldsmiths’ Company Charity will administer the grants on behalf of the Fund
A panel of judges, made up of industry experts, will decide who the grants will be awarded to.

Applications to a Black jewellers’ hardship Fund, founded by Kassandra Lauren Gordon (the Kassandra Lauren Gordon Fund) to provide financial support to Black jewellers and those in the allied trades facing hardship, will open on Tuesday 28 July.

Kassandra Lauren Gordon, a Black jeweller who wrote an open letter to the jewellery industry highlighting how current practices and systems limit accessibility and entry into the trade for Black people, was inspired to set up the Fund after experiencing a lack of financial support specifically for the Black jewellery community. Kassandra independently set up a Go Fund Me page in June and successfully raised £19,483, exceeding her £14,000 target, with 328 individuals, businesses and trade organisations giving donations ranging from £5 to £5,000. The Fund will now be able to support 20 Black jewellers with grants of £1,000 each.

Kassandra is now inviting Black people in the jewellery community who are self-employed, sole traders, or running micro-businesses employing four people or fewer (including the applicant), to apply for a grant by completing an online application form. Applicants must identify as Black, be living and working in the UK and can demonstrate the difference a grant would make to their practice or business. The application window for the Fund will close once it has reached capacity.

The Goldsmiths’ Company Charity, which donated an additional £6,000 to the Fund, will administer the grants on behalf of the Fund. The Charity will not decide who the grants will be awarded to – this will be reviewed by an independent panel of judges, assisted by Kassandra, made up of leading industry figures. The judges are Melanie Eddy, Satta Matturi, Victoria McKay, Alex Monroe and Roxanne Rajcoomar-Hadden.

Kassandra says:

“The fund is a no-strings attached grant to provide financial support to help Black jewellers in their craft and business – be that making new work, buying equipment or materials, research, visiting exhibitions and conferences, or to even just cover some life expenses. I hope, in a small way, that this grant will help enable recipients to continue their jewellery practice when the odds are often stacked against them.”

She adds:

“I am very happy to collaborate with the Goldsmiths’ Company Charity team on this initiative and I’m looking forward to seeing who applies and making much-needed changes to the jewellery industry.”

In these unprecedented times Kassandra and the Goldsmiths’ Company Charity team aim to turn applications around in two weeks, with applicants likely to wait no longer than three weeks, from submission of their application to the review by the judging panel and receiving funds in their bank accounts, if successful. However, timeframes will be adjusted dependent on the volume of applications received.

You can find out more about the Fund, including access to the application form, (which will not go live until Tuesday 28 July at 10am) here: