Support > Funding the Phoenix

As a charitable trust, the Phoenix is a non-profit making organisation.  Any income it raises is put straight back into the cinema. When the Trust was founded in 1985, it received an annual grant from the London Boroughs Grant Unit, which was gradually reduced to zero over the next seven years.
Since then, the cinema has not been supported by any regular public grants.  Surviving in a tough industry as a wholly independent and publicly owned cinema is no mean feat and the Phoenix team is justifiably proud that it manages to do so on its own income.
This is enough to keep the cinema running, but for special projects and any investments such as new equipment, repairs and renovation, the Phoenix needs to raise external funding. Over the past few years, it has done so with increasing success.
Festivals, film courses and other special events have been supported by grants from the London Borough Of Barnet, Film London, Connexions, and the Barnet Children's Fund.

The Trust raised a total of £250,000 between 2000 and 2002 for the works carried out in the winter of 2001/02, including an £85,000 grant from the Regional Arts Lottery Programme as well as grants from The London Film and Video Development Agency, the British Film Institute, Barnet Council, the Milly Apthorp Trust, the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and the Bridge House Estate Trust Fund.

Smaller contributions were made by the Chapman Trust and the Mercers Company. Individual donations from Phoenix patrons totalled almost £40,000.

In 2006 we raised £60,000 from Trusts and Foundations, companies and individual donors to reseat the auditorium.  We now have a classic style chair with the standards of modern comfort.