Margate Mushrooms, founded by Darryn De La Soul, began as a lockdown experiment in her spare room. What started with a few trays of mushrooms soon grew into something far bigger. Local greengrocers snapped up everything she produced, revealing a demand, and a potential community opportunity, she hadn’t anticipated.
Alongside co‑founding the Margate Independent Foodbank CIC during the COVID-19 pandemic, Darryn began shaping Margate Mushrooms into a project with social purpose. Today, the initiative supports foodbank members, people housebound due to illness, and survivors of domestic abuse by helping them start their own micro‑businesses. Mushrooms grown on‑site are distributed to home‑based workers who process them into dried goods, ferments, jerky, crisps, tinctures and more, and are paid for what they produce.
But turning an ambitious, community‑powered idea into a sustainable enterprise required both financial backing and specialist support. That’s where Funding for All stepped in.
Finding the right support
Darryn joined Funding for All’s Mentoring Programme to help transform her early success into a long‑term, fundable model. One of the biggest challenges ahead was crowdfunding – a demanding process that can exhaust even the most passionate fundraisers!
Mentoring that made a measurable difference
For Darryn, the mentoring relationship quickly became essential. Social media training provided a turning point, giving her a content structure – the ‘three pillars’ model – that helped her plan posts, stay consistent, and keep her audience engaged throughout the campaign.
This wasn’t just helpful; it was fundamental:
“The social media training was absolutely fundamental to the success of my crowdfunding campaign. The ‘three pillars’ idea made it so much easier to make a comprehensive plan that was easy for me to follow and kept it fresh for my audience.”
Her mentors guided her through each stage of the campaign, offering both technical knowledge and moral support during the toughest moments. Crowdfunding can be an emotional and energy‑draining process, and she credits her mentors with keeping her going:
“This training, combined with the support from another Funding for All Fundraising Mentor, made it possible for me to successfully make it through such an arduous and difficult process… Without this support I would have buckled and given up.”
Inspired by Darryn’s story? Your organisation could achieve more with the right support behind you. Discover how our Mentoring Programme can help you develop your fundraising and make an even bigger.
