September Funding Round-up

September 8, 2011 Leave a comment

Here’s a round-up of some of the recent funding that has become available or with deadlines coming up in the next few months:

People’s Postcode Dream Fund: Applications for 2012 are now open! This funding exists to give organisations the chance to  deliver a project they have always dreamed of, but never had the opportunity to bring to life. In order to make the most of resources available, all applications must come from a collaboration of one or more organisations.  Registered charities and community organisations in Scotland can apply for up to £100,000 to deliver a new and innovative 12-month project that meets one of the following funding criteria: Helping Communities Lead an Active Life; Helping to Involve Volunteers; Helping to Tackle Climate Change. The deadline for all applications is 5pm on Friday 2nd December 2011.

SITA Trust – Enhancing Communities Programme: Up to £60,000 is available to projects that will make physical improvements to community leisure facilities and historic buildings / structures. Not-for-profit organisations including not for profit organisations, community groups, parish councils, local authorities and charities can apply. Check their website for eligibility (you need to be based within a certain range of a SITA site). The next funding deadline is 28th November 2011.

Heritage Lottery Grants are available providing more than £50,000 for projects that relate to the national, regional or local heritage of the UK. To receive a grant your project must: help people to learn about their own and other people’s heritage; and do either or both of the following: conserve the UK’s diverse heritage for present and future generations to experience and enjoy; help more people, and a wider range of people, to take an active part in and make decisions about heritage. The next funding round closes on 17th October 2011.

Young Film Fund UK: First Light Moves – which provides grants to projects that enable young people to participate in all aspects of film production – has announced that its Young Film Fund has re-opened for applications. Funding is available to organisations such as; schools; youth services; community and voluntary groups that work with young people aged between 5 and 18. Two types of funds are available: Studio Awards – up to £30,000 for between two and four films of up to 10 minutes; and Pilot Awards – up to £5,000 for one short film of up to five minutes in duration. Application deadline is 22nd November 2011.

TalkTalk Digital Heroes Award: these will be given to outstanding individuals working within a group, charity or organisation (as long as it isn’t a commercial enterprise) to use digital technology to solve a social problem or improve peoples’ lives. The winners will receive £5,000 in prize money for their project plus free broadband for 12 months. The deadline for entries is midnight on Sunday 11th September 2011.

The Architectural Heritage Fund: Funding is available to voluntary organisations building preservation trusts to regenerate historic buildings to create community and education facilities, workspace and homes. The project must also involve a change of ownership and/or a change of use. Previously funded projects include turning run down historic buildings into community theatres, resource centres, community learning centres, workspaces and meeting places, etc. The next closing date for applications is the 26th October 2011.

UK mammals grants: Applications are welcomed from voluntary conservation organisations, scientific researchers, individuals and consortia for financial support for work that relates to the conservation of mammals in the British Isles and Eire. Acceptable fields of work for funding include scientific research, practical habitat management work, reintroduction and monitoring programmes and educational projects. Priority will be given to work likely to further the aims of Biodiversity Action Plans and similar initiatives. Individual awards are unlikely to be more than £30,000 or less than £250. To date, the average amount granted per project has been about £9,000. Applications are considered by an advisory group in December and funding decisions are confirmed by the trustees in January. The next deadline for applications is 1st November 2011.

Community Radio Fund: The second round for funding applications in 2011/12 will open on 19 October and close at 5pm on 16 November 2011. The Community Radio Fund Panel will meet to consider applications on 30 January 2012. The Community Radio Fund has been established to help fund the core costs of running a community radio station.

Queen Elizabeth II Fields Challenge Fund: 2012 marks Her Majesty The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and this Challenge, operated by Fields in Trust, is a new campaign to protect 2012 outdoor recreational spaces in communities all across the country as a permanent living legacy. From sports pitches to woodlands, children’s play areas to gardens and bicycle trails to parks, the Queen Elizabeth II Fields Challenge will protect a diverse range of outdoor spaces ensuring that there is something to appeal to everyone. The Queen Elizabeth II Fields Challenge will give communities an opportunity to vote for an outdoor space in their area to become part of the scheme and be permanently protected as a tribute to the Diamond Jubilee. Grants of up to £5,000 are  available and the next deadlines are 28th October and 21st November 2011.

First Light 90 Second Comedy Shorts Grant: First Light has recently become a YouTube partner and to celebrate, is launching a ‘90 Second Comedy Shorts’ round. People all over the world are watching billions of videos every day on YouTube, which is increasingly becoming an important outlet and means of online interaction for young people.  This popular genre of filmmaking can enable your films to be seen by more people and it could also help us inspire even more young people from across the UK to share and create their own First Light films. Organisations can apply for up to £20,000 to make between 3-6 comedy shorts up to 90 Seconds each in duration. 50 applications will be accepted for 90 Second Comedy Shorts grants. Application deadline is 12th October 2011.

Bank of Scotland Foundation Small Grants Programme: the Foundation accepts applications up to and including £20,000 from charities registered in Scotland to help with: developing and improving local communities; financial literacy and financial inclusion. The next deadline for applications is 14th October 2011.

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Writing Successful Trust Proposals

August 23, 2011 Leave a comment

Do your research
First of all, there’s no point writing to a trust if they don’t fund the type of project that you’re asking them to consider or if they don’t fund organisations like yours.  Or if you need capital funding and they only provide revenue – and vice versa.  Trusts have criteria for a reason and if you fail to meet them, you won’t even make it past the first hurdle.  Also note information like when deadlines are and whether or not they accept unsolicited applications in the first place.

Tell your story
Be succinct and to the point.  Use short sentences and paragraphs and remember; trustees generally have to consider far more applications than they are likely to be able to fund.  They don’t want to wade through pages and pages of information to get to the crux of what your bid is about.  Grab their attention by summarising what your organisation is aiming to achieve/what problem you will solve or overcome in the opening paragraph.

Read the Guidelines
As well as making sure you meet the criteria, you must also read the guidelines to ensure that you provide all the information requested.  If they ask for an annual report and set of accounts, include them.  If they ask for two referees, think who will give the best reference for your organisation and the type of project that you’re seeking funding for and include them.  Similarly, if a trust asks you to solely provide your accounts and specifically asks that you send nothing else, don’t be tempted to include additional information.  It’ll add to your postage costs, won’t be read, won’t help your bid and may even count against you.

Style
Avoid jargon, acronyms and technical information.  You are used to writing in the language that everyone in your organisation understands.  Trustees aren’t in your organisation.  And they don’t have the time or inclination to research the details of what on earth you’re talking about.  Imagine that you know nothing about your organisation.  Does what you’ve written make sense or do you need to include additional background information?

Edit
Write your bid in full.  Then go away – even leave it for a couple of days.  Come back and edit it with fresh eyes.  Make sure the sentences are short and snappy.  That the paragraphs don’t drag on for pages.  That you’re not repeating yourself.  Pull it apart and move items to where they are in the best position.  Be ruthless.  Don’t be precious.  This isn’t about you.  It’s about communicating about your project in a language the trustees will understand and that will help you to stand out from the crowd.  Once you’ve done this, get someone who doesn’t know your project or organisation so well to read it.  Does it make sense to them?  Do they understand what you’re trying to achieve?  The best way to check their comprehension is to ask them to explain to you what it is that you need funding for.  If they can’t, or if it needs additional explanation from you, it needs to be looked at again.

Trusts are interested in:

  • What need/problem you’re seeking to address
  • Whowill benefit and for how long
  • Outcomes – short term and long term
  • Evaluation – how will you make sure you’ve done what you set out to do
  • What their money will specifically fund
  • What your overall budget for the project is
  • How you intend to raise all the funding you need for the project

Review
Before you send it off, check over your bid.  Spell check it.  Tick off the items you need to include and make sure you’ve included them.  If possible, get someone else to cast a fresh eye over it to proof it.  If not, leave it overnight and re-read it yourself.  You’re not editing at this stage – you should have done that already – but you need to proof it to make sure there are no errors.

Writing trust bids isn’t rocket science and with practice it will get easier.  However, each new project that you are seeking funding for and each new bid should get you thinking and present a challenge – otherwise you’re in danger of just churning out information.  This is an opportunity to get creative; to think about how to get the interest of trustees who read about literally thousands of great organisations every year; and to remember what gives you a buzz about your organisation in the first place.

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Good fundraising advice

August 9, 2011 Leave a comment

Over the summer I’ve been more than a little bit quiet on this blog.  Mainly because I’ve been juggling childcare and managing clients rather than because I’ve been sunning myself on a long relaxing holiday I should add.

However, I have managed to read the occasional blog post from others and there are a few that I thought worth a mention.  The ever informative SOFII blog as been a mine of useful info (as usual) and I found Damian O’Broin’s post particularly interesting.  In it he provides a checklist of 12 key points to consider that will help to supercharge your fundraising appeals.  As we come out of the summer you might be considering your own fundraising appeals for the autumn (and of course, the pre-Christmas period – sorry, I shouldn’t mention the C word this early in the year, I know).  If you are about to launch a new appeal or write out to your donors, it’s well worth a read.

And of course, if you’re interested in finding a rich source of information without having to plough through various searches on the internet, you can visit Beth’s Blog, which has a great article on sourcing curated articles (i.e. someone else has done the research for you, which I have to say, appeals hugely particularly given my current lack of time resources!).  Beth has added a list of her favourite curated lists using Scoop.It with posts that non-profits might find useful – from crowdsourcing to storytelling; non-profits to using Facebook.  Definitely a good read if you’ve a spare 15 minutes and a cup of tea.

Back to SOFII and there’s another great piece about dabbling in fundraising  by Christiana Stergiou- and why dabbling just doesn’t work.  I’m often asked by people to fundraise for them in some of the circumstances outlined in this post and I always stress the need for a fundraising plan; the need to recognise that fundraising is a long-term, relationship building activity and not about quick wins; and the need to see fundraising as part of the overall fundraising mix and not just a panic, knee jerk reaction to filling an income void.  For these reasons I this post is well worth a read – if nothing else as it gives some good advice on what to do and what not when considering fundraising.

These are just a few of the good posts that I’ve managed to pick up over the summer – in between short bursts of working and refereeing the sibling squabbles in the house.  Let me know what you think of these and if there are any other posts that you think would be of interest to non-profits.

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Are there enough hours in your day?

August 9, 2011 Leave a comment

The summer holidays and lack of time available to do absolutely everything that needs to be done has seen my blog suffer – along with my other social media.  (Not really practising what I preach but unavoidable at this time of year unfortunately!)  But, with the end in sight (the Scottish schools go back next week) I’m beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel and so with that in mind, thought a little post about managing your time effectively as a fundraiser might be useful.  Or rather, managing your time for fundraising whether fundraising is all or just a part of your job.  Please read my post over on the Arts Professional blog – and let me know if you think I’ve missed anything or if it raises any questions about managing your fundraising that you’d like help with.

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August Funding News

August 8, 2011 1 Comment

The Scottish Government have announced the launch of two significant funds which will provide funding of £7m for the social enterprise sector in Scotland – Just Enterprise and the Enterprise Growth Fund.

The People’s Postcode Lottery Dream Fund is a new initiative developed by the People’s Postcode Trust team to give organisations the chance to deliver the project they have always dreamed of, but never had the opportunity to bring to life.  The Dream Fund will offer £600,000 over two years, with £300,000 available for 2011, and £300,000 for 2012. Registered charities and community organisations in Scotland can apply for up to £100,000 to deliver a new and innovative 12-month project that meets one of the following funding criteria: Helping Communities Lead an Active Life; Helping to Involve Volunteers; Helping to Tackle Climate Change

The Wellcome Trust have recently announced their People Awards – where organisation’s can apply for up to £30,000 in funding towards projects that introduce biomedical science to the public.  If you have a project that will encourage public debate and understanding of biomedical science, take a look at their website to see whether you are eligible for funding.  The next deadline is 28th October 2011.

The Wellcome Trust also has an arts awards programme that seeks to engage the public in biomedical science through creative arts programmes and again, awards grants of up to £30,000 imaginative and experimental arts programmes.

Flytipping Small Grant Scheme – The flytipping small grant scheme is being administered by Keep Scotland Beautiful on behalf of Zero Waste Scotland to support landowners/managers  and community groups in Scotland who have experienced persistent problems of flytipping. The total grant fund is £50,000.

The Sita Trust’s Enhancing Communities programme funds community improvement projects that make physical improvements to community leisure facilities and historic buildings / structures with grants of up to £60,000 available.

Coastal communities across the United Kingdom will receive a multi-million pound boost each year from a new Coastal Communities Fund, financed by the Government through the allocation of funding equivalent to 50 per cent of the revenues from the Crown Estate’s marine activities.  This new fund is designed to support the economic development of coastal communities and will support a wide range of projects, including those that support charities, the environment, education and health. Examples could include support for developing renewable energy, improving skills or environmental safeguarding or improvement.

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Facebook preferred Social Media for Fundraising

May 17, 2011 Leave a comment

The result of our recent poll on LinkedIn showed that Facebook used more for fundraising than other social media. Having read Pamela Grow’s blog on yesterday’s SOFII post, this is perhaps an area that more organisations should look into, as one charity has enjoyed phenomenal success using the basic Facebook platform effectively.

No matter what the media, I’ve always said that fundraising doesn’t have to be expensive to work.  You don’t have to have heavyweight paper, embossed in gold with expensive print and design any more than you need a database that can do everything but make the tea (although you do need a database!).  Often you can adapt what you already have to reach donors by thinking creatively and using a bit of imagination.  I think that Pamela’s blog outlines this beautifully, as the Soi Dog charity shows how it harnessed Facebook properly, using a little bit of work and imagination – without breaking the bank!

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Funding Update

May 15, 2011 Leave a comment

New charitable funds that have recently been announced or with deadlines coming up include:

Esmée Fairbairn Foundation Museum Collections Fund – a collaboration with the Museums Association, this fund focuses on time-limited collections work outside the scope of an organisation’s core resources. There are two deadlines this year – 31st May and 31st October 2011.  Through this fund the MA will award approximately £800,000 per year to museums, galleries and heritage organisations.  Organisations can apply for sums between £20,000 and £100,000.

EventScotland – The National Funding Programme complements the International Funding Programme and plays an integral role in developing domestic tourism across Scotland. By supporting events which take place outside the cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, EventScotland is also growing Scotland’s wider events portfolio which forms the backbone of our events industry.  The deadline for the next round of funding is 3rd June for events from January 2012.

The Institute for Small Business & Entrepreneurship – Research and Knowledge Exchange (RAKE) fund is an initiative that aims to encourage and support research  activities from academics, third sector organisations, consultants and  practitioners with the ambition of drawing together and generating an  entrepreneurial community of practice to facilitate knowledge exchange  and transfer.  Funds of up to £12,000 are available and the next funding deadline is 3rd June.

Voda Grassroots Funds -The Grassroots Grants programme is to make £51,180 available to North Tyneside groups.  The Government has made a one off sum of £168,648 available to grassroots community and voluntary groups in Newcastle, North Tyneside and Northumberland. Grants are available for constituted groups that have a turnover over of less than £30,000, have been going for over a year and have a full set of accounts. Applications for equipment and summer activities are particularly welcome, but all funding awarded must be spent by the September 2011.  The deadline for submitting applications is Friday, 27 May 2011.

Cashback for Communities – The Small Grants Scheme has been established to support local volunteer led groups, who may not previously have had access to external funding, to enhance their programmes for young people and get positive projects off the ground.  Funding of up to £2,000 is available and the next round of funding closes on 1st June 2011.

Clore Social Leadership Programme – This programme is a unique, offering fully-funded Fellowships tailored to meet the individual development needs of aspiring leaders in the social sector.  Applications to the 2012 Fellowship programme opened on 18th April 2011.

First Light’s Young Film Fund opened on 3rd May – funding is available for Pilot Grants (up to £5,000) and Studio Grants (up to £30,000) to projects that enable young people to participate in all aspects of film production.  Deadline for this round of applications is 14 June 2011.

The Wellcome Trusts Arts Awards – support imaginative and experimental arts projects that investigate biomedical
science.  The scheme aims to: stimulate interest, excitement and debate about biomedical science through
the arts; examine the social, cultural, and ethical impact of biomedical science; support formal and informal learning; encourage new ways of thinking; encourage high quality interdisciplinary practice and collaborative partnerships in arts, science and/or education practice.  Small grants of up to £30,000 are available while the large project programme is for applications of £30,000 or more.  There are various deadlines throughout the year with the next on 29 July.  All art forms are   covered by the programme: dance, drama, performance arts, visual arts, music, film, craft, photography, creative writing or digital media.  The Trust invites applications for projects which engage adult audiences and/or young people.

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The Rise of the Social Enterprise

April 26, 2011 Leave a comment

With an increasing number of my clients operating as social enterprises, rather than solely as charities, I read Noam Kostucki’s post on the SOFII blog with interest.  Noam has put together a list of suggestions to help organisations – charities in particular – look at how they can become more entrepreneurial in their outlook and generate their own income.  And that has to be something that is not only worth considering but becoming increasingly important in these trying economic times. 

I’ve blogged many times about the need for charities to take a more creative approach to diversifying their income and generating income can certainly help to provide more sustainability for an organisation.  Noam’s tips include:

1. Look at what you’re best at and capitalise on that – don’t try to completely reinvent the wheel but use the skills and experience you have available to you to help diversify your income.  What do you currently offer clients/service users/the community you’re based in, how does that help them and can it be adapted to  provide an income for you e.g. by providing the same service but to an audience who can afford to pay for it? 

2. What is your current business model and can it be adapted in such a way to earn you an income without your current beneficiaries suffering as a result?  Are there income generating opportunities that ‘fit’ with what you do already?  TOMs Shoes is the example given where, for every pair of shoes sold, the charity sends a pair to a child in need – a nice and obvious link between what the business does and the charitable aim.

3. Use technology to make your life easier – an area which I already advocate to enable organisations to make their fundraising work smarter not harder through crowdfunding, Facebook, Twitter and the use of social media to ‘spread the word’ about your organisation, raise awareness and ultimately, raise money.  Noam suggests using social media to harness that free PR and publicity to help you grow your business and promote your business services to a broader audience.

Noam’s post offers good suggestions as to how to think creatively about adapting your charity into a social enterprise model by thinking out of the box, working smarter not harder and harnessing the skills and experience you already have – thereby turning a change in your organisation’s income generation model from something scary into something achievable, flexible and, most of all, sustainable.

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How to Develop a Fundraising Strategy

April 14, 2011 4 Comments

Your board and management team has recognised that your organisation needs to fundraise.  Or perhaps you’ve already enjoyed some success with your fundraising from various sources but want to begin to take a strategic approach to your fundraising.  Where should you start?  It’s a question I’m often asked and there are a number of areas to consider – my top 5 are:

Business Plan – do you have one?  If not, there’s not much point in developing a fundraising strategy, as the whole purpose of your strategy is to look at your business objectives over the next planning period (be it 3, 4 or 5 years) and establishing how your fundraising can support these.  So, if you don’t have a business plan, get one.  If you do, what are the objectives of your organisation – and what areas have you identified in the business plan that fundraising could support?

Resources – these cover everything from staff to databases, marketing & communications to senior management and, of course, volunteers.  Look at the resources available and how they can support your fundraising.  Do you need to invest more in your fundraising resources to enable you to reach target or do you have resources that you’re not utilising effectively?

Donors – what has your fundraising looked like over the past 3 years?  A fundraising audit should happen before you put pen to paper with your fundraising strategy i.e. assessing who has given; what they’ve funded; and how much has been given.  What campaigns were successful and which failed?  Do you have particular success in raising income from trusts or perhaps companies flock to sponsor your organisation?  Or maybe no-one has ever given anything?  You need to look at all of these areas and start to question why your fundraising looks the way that it does in order to establish the potential your organisation has to fundraise successfully in the future.

Board – never underestimate the importance of your board.  If they are keen advocates for your organisation, their support with your fundraising is vital but equally, if they are negative about fundraising or refuse to support your work, you’re going to have a hard time raising any income.  Getting your Board on board and encouraging them to take a proactive approach in fundraising, is key to introducing new networks to your organisation.

Objectives – what do you need to fundraise for?  And where is the potential for raising funds for these areas?  Are some of your organisational objectives likely to appeal particularly to the Lottery or trusts – perhaps because they have a social dimension or are taking a new, innovative approach to addressing a social need?  Similarly, an objective that is likely to raise the profile of your organisation significantly and attract interest from the press and general public may appeal to the corporate market.  Look objectively at what you need to fundraise for – i.e. where your organisation is going for the next 3 – 5 years – and establish where the potential is to raise those funds.

Those are just my top 5 areas to consider when shaping a fundraising strategy and, of course, I’ve just touched briefly on each of them.  Is there anything missing?  What would you take out?

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Diversifying your Income

April 11, 2011 2 Comments

Any client I’ve ever worked with could testify to the fact that I often ‘bang on’ about diversification of income streams.  Trying to ensure that your income comes from a number of sources – preferably a mixture of earned income – from commissions or training that you offer, philanthropic income, sponsorship and perhaps statutory funding.  Within that, I’m also keen to encourage that organisations diversify their philanthropic income to include a mixture of Lottery, trusts, individuals, corporate giving – and perhaps EU and third sector grant funding.  The more you can diversify your income, the greater protection your organisation has if and when one of your income streams dries up or reduces.  It’s basically common sense and the old ‘don’t put all your eggs in one basket’ theory but it’s easy to see how an organisation, particularly with the limited resources that many charities have, can focus on the one source of income that works for them to the detriment of other funding – until it’s too late. 

So try to broaden the net and move outside your comfort zone or away from the obvious or usual suspects when researching potential supporters for a new venture.  Is there an element that could be self funding or could generate income for your organisation?  Or similarly, is there an aspect that you simply cannot deliver without the support of the Lottery or trusts but which will add considerable value to what you are trying to do.  Try to look at your project from all angles – not just the tried and tested perspective.  What do other organisations do that you could adopt?  Look beyond your own niche area to organisations that you admire – or envy!  And involve others in the organisation in helping to assess the potential for your products and services. 

It’s also an adage that I’ve taken over into my business life – working with a range of organisations from across a number of sectors and offering a variety of different services – from fundraising to strategic planning; mentoring to staff training & development.  Everything from arts organisations to social enterprises, international aid agencies to local charities – and if I’m honest, that suits me just fine as it gives me the opportunity to work with an interesting range of very different organisations, while helping me to diversify my income sources too.

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