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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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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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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The Budget & Philanthropy

March 24, 2011 1 Comment

George Osborne’s second budget promised some real changes to aid philanthropic giving, particularly to the arts but with potential wide ranging effects for the charity sector in general.  So will it make a difference and encourage more people to give, more money and more regularly to charity in the UK?

Of course, time will tell but the Gift Aid reforms – essentially simplifying the system and enabling charities to ‘thank’ donors more effectively – certainly seem to be a move in the right direction that will help charities receive more money in without getting bogged down in too much administration.  A good thing for small charities in particular who often struggle with the complexity and additional layers of administration that Gift Aid can bring.  It will also help those who are perhaps not in receipt of major gifts but receive many smaller gifts, as the system will become more simple.

I am cautiously optimistic about these reforms and they are definitely a move in the right direction.  However, they are unlikely to have an immediate impact on giving and need to be supported by government investment. 

What do you think?  Can you see a potential difference to your organisation’s future philanthropic income as a result of these reforms?

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New Funding Opportunities

March 18, 2011 Leave a comment

New Funding Opportunities:

£1m Poetry & Literature Awards
The Clore Duffield Foundation has launched a new £1m programme to fund poetry and literature initiatives for children and young people across the UK. The Awards are will run from 2011 to 2015 and will allocate amounts up to £10,000 in two funding rounds a year. Schools, FE colleges, community groups, libraries and other arts/cultural organisations are eligible to apply.   

BIG Lottery have launched Improving Futures fund
Every child deserves the best start in life, but we know that some grow up in difficult circumstances. Some families experience multiple and complex problems – for example, to do with poor health, unemployment, debt or housing problems – which can affect their children’s wellbeing and life chances.  The Improving Futures programme aims to improve outcomes for children within these families.  The deadline for submitting “Expression of Interest is the 12th May 2011.  Partnerships successful at this stage will have until the 30th September 2011 to submit full applications.

Hilton in the Community Funds
Organisations that work with young people can apply for grants up to £30,000 per year for up to 2 years that meet one of the Foundation’s chosen areas of focus: disabled children; children in hospital; homelessness; and life-limited children in hospices.  The next closing date for applications is the 3rd May 2011.

Easi-Drive launched £60,000 Charitable Fund for 2011 in February
The ‘wheelsforgood’ community fund was created by Easi-Drive’s Managing Director Simon Bellamy in 2009, to give something back to the community in which the business operates. The award-winning company, which celebrates its 10th birthday this year, donated £60,000 in 2010 to a number of ‘wheel’ based projects, which ranged  from buying a new wheelchair wheel for a 2016 Paralympic hopeful to donating £10,000 to the  Motor and Allied Trades Benevolent Fund (BEN).  Commenting on the launch of the 2011 fund, Simon Bellamy said: “It’s been great to see the difference wheelsforgood made to individuals, groups and projects in 2010. We see this as a long term commitment and a key part of our corporate strategy, and are delighted to be pledging £60,000 once again this year.”

Make a Splash!
As well as running a series of training events, the Make a Splash! project also has a small grants programme, offering small voluntary groups in Scotland the chance to apply for between £250 – £2,000 so that you can try something new and help even more people discover how good it feels to take part in arts and crafts activity.

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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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Fundraising – How to Beat the Recession

March 9, 2011 Leave a comment

There’s no denying that the recession – and the impact that it’s had on donors and trust investments; government spending and general household income – has had an adverse impact on fundraising in general.  We recently asked charities and arts organisations to complete a survey into how the recession had affected them – and there were a few charities out there who bucked the trend and hadn’t seen their income reduce.  They were, however, in the minority.  The survey results are interesting – and there are a few glimmers of hope in there as to how organisations can move their fundraising forward in these difficult times.  Difficult but not impossible perhaps?

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Flexible Working

January 25, 2011 Leave a comment

Not one to blow my own trumpet but sometimes you have to – particularly if you want to win work – there’s a feature about me and how I got started as a freelance fundraiser on Family Friendly Working today (25th January).

Starting out in August 2008, there were two main motivations behind my decision – one was entirely personal and driven by my family circumstances and the desire to stop the long commute and make a few more events in the lives of my children.  The second motivation was that I wanted to use the skills and experience I’d gained over years fundraising for a range of organisations to work with smaller charities – particularly those who are either keen to start fundraising; want to make their fundraising more effective; or are trying to refocus or build their fundraising programme.

It’s been an interesting couple of years – smack bang in the middle of a recession has made it a bit nerve wracking to say the least – but I wouldn’t change my decision or go back to the day job.  I’ve met fascinating people; worked on projects as diverse as employability initiatives to children’s arts organisations; photography galleries to tourist attractions; and I’ve learned a huge amount along the way.

In fact, if you’re considering going freelance or setting up your own consultancy, and you love a challenge and meeting new people – go for it!

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Does Social Media Work?

January 21, 2011 1 Comment

Much has been written about the use of social media in fundraising – as well as in life in general.  After all, there are probably very few people who own a computer that don’t tweet or post on Facebook – or both!  But I’m interested to know how many charities proactively use social media to fundraise – and if they do, how successful is it?

I came across a nifty little piece of software the other day (www.fundrazr.com) that makes fundraising – and encouraging donations from your ‘friends’ – a straightforward process.  Now this isn’t a review of the software – I will state now that I’ve never used it – but it seemed to me that on reading the information it was not only a good way for individuals to raise money for charities close to them – say if they were running a marathon and seeking sponsorship – but it also might give small arts organisations and charities a good way of raising small gifts from a large number of people.

Crowdfunding is another way to achieve similar results – raising many small gifts – and there is no doubting the power of social media when it comes to making a campaign go viral.  I’ve read lots about how social media can be used to fundraise and how effective it is in the US – but I haven’t seen many examples of it being used in the UK.  Or maybe I just haven’t been looking hard enough!

Personally, I think social media is a great way to achieve results and get people commenting and engaged with your organisation.  And I am particularly interested to find out whether, in these cash strapped times, as organisations develop new, creative ways to reach potential donors, whether they have used social media to achieve this successfully?

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