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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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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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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Sharper Marketing & Fundraising

March 11, 2011 1 Comment

Do you want to reach more people with your marketing and fundraising messages?  Or perhaps you want to refocus your organisation to target new donors or to reach new customers and clients?

Many of my clients are small organisations who don’t have the resources to employ huge fundraising teams and want to develop skills to enable them to plan and implement their own strategic approach to successful fundraising and marketing. 

With that in mind, Activate Fundraising and Strategy Point  have developed Sharper Marketing & Fundraising – a new, cost-effective programme to give organisations the tools and advice to develop their own marketing and fundraising strategies.  This puts organisations in the position where they gain the skills in-house and can tailor a strategy precisely to their needs – all with our hands-on support, of course. 

What’s more, Skills Development Scotland is currently offering 50% of the costs of training up to a maximum of £500 per person between now and 30 June, so there’s potential to get the programme at an even lower rate for the next couple of months.

So, if you’re a smaller charity or arts organisation based in central Scotland and would like to develop skills that will enable you to make a long-term difference to your organisation, please get in touch to find out more.

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Using Social Media in your Fundraising

February 17, 2011 1 Comment

The advent of social media has resulted in charities trying new ways of fundraising but, before you go down the route of using social media, there are a few things you need to consider:

1. Work out what you are trying to achieve. It may seem as though everyone is on Twitter but does that mean you should be? That said it’s an effective way to get your message across in bite size chunks but think about why you are doing it before you start. Are you trying to drive people to your website? Or perhaps change perceptions about your charity? Maybe you want to reach a new audience? Whatever the reasons, what matters most is that you know why you’re getting into social media in the first place.

2. Be consistent. Don’t be tempted to change the central message of your charity. You may communicate differently (and you shouldn’t just regurgitate other marketing materials online) but whatever you say should still be in tune with your core message. Do be creative though, using video, podcasts and blogs to enrich your message.

3. Decide who is responsible for social media in your organisation. You may have different people tweeting and blogging on your behalf but you should have a policy that everyone adheres to which sets out clear objectives for your social media activity. And these objectives must be communicated to those using social media on behalf of your organisation. There are benefits in asking others to contribute, adding value and different perspectives to your messages – as long as they are consistent. And please, please make sure that personal social media activity isn’t confused with that carried out in your charity’s name.

4. Encourage your Board to use their online networks to your advantage. We all ask trustees or board members to network on our behalf offline, so why not online? This isn’t an area that has been hugely exploited but it’s bound to become of increasing importance in the future. Ask your Board to use Linked In to promote their involvement with your charity. And if you know that they are on Twitter perhaps they can be encouraged to tweet to their followers on your behalf?

5. Use social media as part of your overall communication strategy. Social media is part of a good communications strategy. Used well it will drive traffic to your site, raise awareness of your campaigns and help to reach new audiences – but it isn’t the only method of communication that you should use, even if it is good value for money. For example, a successful direct mail campaign shouldn’t be replaced with a Facebook page but you could enrich your message by using Facebook to inform fans about your campaign – and vice versa.

Social media is a good, low cost, effective way to reach new audiences but it is only one platform for communicating with your audience. Above all, social media gives you the opportunity to be creative and reach new audiences in new ways, so use it to your best advantage.

freelance fundraiser

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We Wish You a Merry Christmas…

December 23, 2010 Leave a comment

Final day of Activate Fundraising’s Top 10 Fundraising Tips – and here are the final two.  This is by no means the definitive list on everything you need to consider when fundraising but it should give you an idea of the different aspects you need to consider and help you to focus your ideas. 

9. Use trustees effectively.  Who has the best networks?  Who is happy to ask for money (because not all will be)?  Who is most knowledgeable or passionate about your organisation (hopefully, all of them!).  It is vital that trustees lend their support to fundraising.  They may not all be comfortable asking for money but they don’t all have to be – as long as they will introduce your organisation to their networks and be an ambassador for your work (which they should be anyway).

10. Say Thank You.  It may be obvious, but you’d be surprised how often donors aren’t thanked.  You can’t say thank you enough.  Provide the personal touch – a scanned signature is unlikely to make anyone feel their gift meant much.  £20 may be a small donation to you but it could mean a lot to the donor.  And you never know how much could follow on from the smallest gift.  If you don’t thank people you are closing the doors to future support and wasting all the effort put into getting that initial donation.

I hope that these tips have given you some food for thought over the past few days and that you implement some or all of them when you come back into the office in January.   And if you’d like some help with your fundraising, please get in touch.

Merry Christmas and a Happy 2011!

by Flickr user Frits Ahlefeldt-Laurvig

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Christmas Countdown Giveaway: 22nd December

December 22, 2010 Leave a comment

Like me, you probably only have another couple of days in the office, so make them a productive couple by using them to think about how you’re going to come into the office in January and kick start your fundraising with a few new ideas – or maybe just visit some old ones from a different perspective:

Tip 7. Stay ‘on message’.  Fundraising is another way of communicating to your audience and, while the methods of delivery may be different, they should still reflect your core messages.  If you’re fundraising for a programme that doesn’t fit with your overall vision, you need to ask yourself why.  If you don’t, potential donors will.

8. Fundraise within resources.  Regardless of how many fundraisers you have (or don’t have) you need to be realistic about what you can deliver.  How much time can you allocate to fundraising?  What tasks need to be delivered e.g. research, applications, meetings, planning?  Who will deliver these tasks?  Often fundraising focuses solely on target but if it’s unrealistic within current resources, you need to either reduce the target or devote more resources to fundraising.

Check in with us tomorrow for the final two in our top 10 Fundraising tips series.

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Christmas Countdown Giveaway: Day 4

December 21, 2010 Leave a comment

A few more free advent tips from Activate Fundraising:

5. Research your donors.  You need to identify who is likely to support your organisation – and being wealthy is not enough.  If I had £1 for every time I’ve been told to ask a certain businessman for money, I’d be rich!  Look at your projects, your beneficiaries and your organisational vision.  Who supports the work you are doing?  There are numerous resources out there to help with your research – too many to mention here – but start by reading local and national press; keeping up to date with sector developments; and using your networks.

6. Network.  Spread the word about your organisation.  Be known as leaders in your field.  Use networks available to you – through trustees, volunteers, professional groups and your donors.  Consider online networking – ask your Trustees and CEO if they’ll introduce your organisation to their Linked In contacts or send out occasional tweets on your behalf.

Is there anything from the list of tips so far that you think is missing?  What would you add and why?

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