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London Councils Grants Consultation 2013

The consultation process and timetable

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KnowHow NonProfit is an excellent and very informative website for charities, especially around fundraising.  For the full range of its resources, see its page on funding.

Here is a particularly useful article on diversifying your income in times of cuts, reproduced in full:

How to fundraise in tough times

 

Note: for more general fundraising advice, see KnowHow’s fundraising section.

1 Deciding what part of your business is expendable

The impact of recession isn't usually felt by an individual until about 18 months after the initial blow when confidence in the economy is at a low and when everyone's belt will need to be tightened. It is therefore beneficial to look at how these changes will affect your business in terms of lost income and where, in turn, you may need to make cuts and savings in order to survive.

The first cost cutting exercise must surely be streamlining your operation. Remind yourself what your organisation was initially set up to do. Are you still doing this as part of your CORE business or have you moved away from this? Do you have lots of add-on's which reflect a very small part of your business but are not essential to the CORE? If the answer is yes then your first steps are to look at what you can pare back, at least for the interim, in order to keep the essential CORE business going within limited income streams.

This will allow you to discover where other savings can be made. Even though you may experience a significant drop in fundraising this doesn't necessarily mean that your CORE business has to suffer.

2 You need a good fundraising strategy

Ok, so you know how much you'll need to keep the CORE area of your business going but how are you going to get it funded? For those nonprofits that have been going a while they should already have money that is under their own control. But for all organisations including the many young or newly started nonprofits it will mean forming a realistic strategy on how you're going to attract donations and grants.

3 Keeping up good relationships is key

No matter where you have gained income from in the past, this doesn't necessarily mean you'll be able to rely on it in the future. However, a few choice decisions now about how to continue to network with existing as well as attempting to attract new donors, will enable your organisation to gain its much needed funds.

So keep past and existing donors informed of what you're doing and how successful you are at doing it. Keep information current, especially that which can be easily accessed, and send out regular newsletters about your achievements. Do as much as you can with the resources you have to keep your organisation uppermost in the minds of the donor. They may say 'no' at the moment but it is more likely that they will help out as and when they can if they believe you're still fully active.

It is therefore also extremely important that when it comes to deciding what items need to be cut from the budget, advertising, marketing and publicity should not be included amongst them. You need to maintain visibility within the sector, not only by addressing past and existing donors but also prospective donors as well.

A simple concept - if you've been heard of or seen at least three times by an individual then that individual is three times more likely to donate to your cause.

This doesn't have to be costly to be effective either, a simple web marketing strategy can help spread the word about your organisation. Get involved on Twitter, at Facebook and set up a blog. You'll soon see the benefits of keeping people informed.

4 Where to look for funders

Do your homework. This is the time to find out exactly where you can go to find those individuals and organisations that are still able to give donations and grants. 'How-to use the internet for fundraising' will give you some pointers on where to start looking.

Where to look for funding:

• Corporate donations are not quite as freely available as they used to be. However, if you can prove to a corporation that your organisations CORE business directly responds to the work that the corporation wants to encourage as part of their business then you are more likely to get funding
• Trusts are not likely to be able to give out grants as they have been able to in the past due to the uncertainty of the imminent government cutbacks in spending. That being said they are more likely to support less popular causes. If your organisation fits the bill make sure that you build even closer relationships with those trusts that are likely to consider supporting you.
• Regular donations from individuals are likely to decrease unless you are either consistently within the public eye (regular television or radio ads), hold a regular event (Children In Need, Comic Relief, Sports Relief) or is a cause that donors will readily support because they or loved ones have needed to use their services (Macmillan, Cancer Research, a local hospice). It is therefore more likely that you can encourage your supporters to leave a legacy to your cause instead and this can be very simply and cost effectively included as part of your organisation’s website.

5 How about raising your own funds

Trading is the obvious route but be warned it can be a costly process. Depending on what you are selling will depend upon how much it will cost if you can't afford to buy in bulk, what space you'll need to store it, how your going to deal with shipping and what about invoicing and collecting money. There may be ways that you can 'affiliate sell' products on behalf of other organisations but make sure whatever the product is, it fits your organisation’s CORE remit.

Goods are not the only things that can be sold; services can be too. If you have particular expertise that you can use to train people, or help them build their own business, then you have an asset that you can sell. Do think very carefully about how you are going to portray this, after all you're doing it to promote the organisation not yourself.

Event fundraising has always been a good source of income but be warned, lavish showstoppers are becoming unfashionable. However, if an organisation wants to be noticed there is no reason why it shouldn't consider including itself as part of an event run by an umbrella organisation such as ACEVO or NCVO where it can promote awareness for the organisation rather than as a quick fix to bring in much needed funds.

Finally, there is community fundraising. Considerable interest always surrounds local causes and concerns. Donors may be thin on the ground but that doesn't mean you can't get help in other ways. Loyal volunteers will go some way to help encourage donations from others. You can quickly add your volunteering vacancies at do-it.org; although there is an annual premium and initial set up fee to use their software. There are also other organisations where you may be able to advertise vacancies for free including the KnowHow website.

6 Last but by no means least

It's a given, the economy will get better and hopefully many of us will weather the storm particularly well for as long as it continues. Just remember:

• Fundraising is not about rational thinking - there are no hard and fast rules and every opportunity should be researched if not followed through
• Delay major capital investments - but don't stop planning them
• Protect reliable income streams whilst withdrawing from those that are no longer viable - if you ask properly you may still receive
• Plan for the future - but don't expect quick fixes
• Never be embarrassed asking for money - you're a nonprofit organisation, it's expected
• And above all - remain positive, it will be noticed and rewarded 

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Through the Big Decision, you the British public, told The Big Lottery Fund where you felt £10 million of Lottery funding should go.

Parenting Skills

Is your charity concerned with the parenting of young children? 

Parenting Matters report that: “The most important factor influencing a child’s development is the quality of parenting they receive and the quality of the Home Learning Environment this creates. The government has stated that 'what is needed is a much wider culture change towards recognising the importance of parenting' and has expressed the desire for 'parenting advice and support to be considered the norm'. The report highlights the role of the voluntary and community sector in providing parenting skills through training courses and it also explores the role of the sector in supporting parents and families.”

If you would like to use some of the findings to help support the case for funding your work, see the full report.

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In Kind Direct 

Have you ever thought how much it would help if you could find a cheaper source of the goods you use in the course of your work? Whether it’s the office equipment and supplies to run your own office or the myriad things you provide for the people you serve, In Kind Direct can be an invaluable resource. 
 
To join their network you don’t need to be a registered charity; you just need to be a not-for-profit organisation or social business. If you qualify then many of the goods you require can be obtained at very low cost, thanks to the generosity of hundreds of manufacturers and retailers which donate goods to In Kind Direct.
 
All you pay for each pack of goods is the handling fee, which contributes to the costs of collecting, warehousing and delivering the goods to your door. On average this works out at around 10 - 15% of the actual value.

There are also other special partnerships with companies offering discount.

In Kind Direct, 62-64 Cornhill, London EC3V 3PL Tel: 020 7398 5510 Fax: 020 7398 5544 Email: info@inkinddirect.org

To sign up go to Website:  http://www.inkinddirect.org/receive/join_now

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B & Q Waste Donation Scheme

 

 B&Q operates a waste donation scheme through all stores. This scheme allows donation of waste materials, for example slightly damaged tins of paint, off-cuts of timber, odd rolls of wallpaper and end of range materials, to community groups, charities and schools. 

Details...

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Community Toolkit is a FREE information resource for people who want to get involved in organising smaller, straightforward community activities. Created by Zurich Insurance to address barriers to community volunteering, it provides guidance on some legal, health and safety, insurance and planning issues.

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Outcomes measurement

The latest Outcomes Star has just been launched.  The Empowerment Star, the Outcomes Star for women who have experienced domestic abuse, follows a year of development, including a six-month pilot with women receiving support from Eaves Housing and other services.

The Empowerment Star resources are available to download free of charge from the Outcomes Star website.

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Sustainable Funding Beacon survey results  

THANK YOU to all the organisations and individuals who responded to our survey focusing on Sustainable Funding.  Your time in doing so is much appreciated. Your answers are especially useful in these times of change when we all have to look anew at how to deliver our services and, indeed, your interest in learning more about becoming socially enterprising has informed our imminent summer training programme.  The lucky winner of the £10 M & S voucher was Paul Moore of Mind in Barnet.  Many congratulations to Paul.

You can see a summary of the responses here and below you can read some key findings which I hope you will find interesting.

Who responded?

 A total of 35 individuals, representing small to medium sized voluntary and community organisations and a couple of statutory organisations.

Highlights

In Q6, 50% of respondents said their organisation had been affected by government spending cuts, 16.7% said they hadn’t been cut yet but soon would be, and only 13.3% thought they were unlikely to be affected. 

N.B. Some of those responding were/are not presently funded by national or local government so would not be directly affected by government cuts.

In Q7, only one person out of 30 claimed to be “very confident” of securing the income needed to do their organisation’s work over the next five years. Two didn’t know, and the remaining 27 respondents ranged fairly evenly from “somewhat confident” to “not confident at all” (23.3%).

41.4% of groups responding to Q9, said their income had stayed about the same as in the previous year, 31% said it had decreased somewhat, and 10.3% that it had decreased considerably.

Q10/11 tells us that, despite the strong messages encouraging sustainable funding and diversification of income, a surprising number of respondents still see grant funding as most important for their work.  This indicates even greater urgency in stepping up our training in alternative sources of income, notably gift economy, contracts, trading and enterprise.  Trading had the lowest percentage when asked which income stream was considered most important for the future.

In Q12/13/14, a list of alternative funding models was given.  Of those, most commonly used was online fundraising, followed by sponsorship and social enterprise & trading. Respondents were keen to learn more about ALL the models listed and, of those generally unknown to and/or not used by respondents, the highest numbers wanted to learn more about the following: social impact bonds, community shares, personalisation in public services, big society bank (the highest at 68.2%) and equity investments.  Sponsorship, social enterprise & trading each scored 63.6% of the vote.

Q17 indicated that, in addition to government cuts and competition for funding, groups perceive many different barriers to their future funding success.  The highest response (39.1%) was “escalating costs”, closely followed by “lack of access to finance” (34.8%).  Interestingly, 30.4% identified “lack of marketing skills” as a major barrier.  This supports the introduction of marketing training, including one-to-one sessions, that I have set up with experts in this field.

In Q19 I asked what methods of delivery groups would most like as regards ongoing support in sustainable funding.  Most asked for it to continue to be via the Funding News pages on the website as well as in the email newsletter, and many would like specialists to speak to them either through existing networks and fora, with a few electing for a sustainable funding network to be set up.  Two more remarked that they had no time to attend meetings; one said they would prefer to gain the information “via the Funding Advice Officer” and the other said “by ensuring that Barnet has a designated funding ‘maestro’ i.e. Marilyn Keats” – and we hope that will be possible. Five more respondents stated they need support in the form of assistance with fundraising applications, which I am continuing to provide on request. 

“The future for CommUNITY Barnet and support for the voluntary sector”

This recent survey, details of which can be found elsewhere on the website, had a couple of connecting themes, so it is useful to add a note on how the results of these two surveys complement each other.

In Q1 of that survey 39 people rated “information on the website and newsletters” highly.  As regards sustainable funding, this need is met via news bulletins in both the email newsletter and, in much greater detail, (alongside news about grants and tendering opportunities) in the Funding News section of the website which I update regularly and frequently.

Three of the categories presented in that same question come under the umbrella of Sustainable Funding and, when those three sub-headings are added together with the 13 who found general fundraising training important, we see that a total of 70 respondents rate these combined areas, giving a good insight into how highly people still value training in fundraising/ sustainable funding in all its aspects.  Those three categories, all of which were covered in training events I set up under our autumn training programme as part of the NCVO Beacon programme, are as follows: 

• monitoring, evaluation and impact
• training on income generation strategies
• support with tendering and commissioning:

The findings from both surveys reinforced that groups still want, need, and highly rate, support and training in both fundraising and finance - as is further evidenced in comments on feedback forms and interest in and attendance at our recent training programme, focused as it was on all aspects of Sustainable Funding*.

Thank you once again for your valuable input.  If you have any particular questions on the survey, please contact Marilyn at marilyn.keats@communitybarnet.org.uk. 

 

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Growing the Social Investment Market: A vision and strategy

The Cabinet Office has published a document setting out the government's vision of a thriving social investment market where social ventures can access the capital they need to grow, allowing them to do more to help build a bigger, stronger society.   

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Big Society Bank

The Government has announced that four national banks (Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group and RBS) will support the establishment of the Big Society Bank by providing £200m of capital over two years from 2011. See Treasury website.  

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Lottery changes approach to outcomes

The Big Lottery Fund have revised their approach to outcomes and have produced Getting Funding and Planning Successful Projects for organisations applying for a Big Lottery Fund grant. It is a simple step-by-step introduction to the fundamental concepts and principles that you will need to know about if you are going to apply for funding from BIG.  

They have developed a new web resource that features advice and guidance on these changes, including sections on aims and outcomes, and tracking changes, so please do take a look.

BIG's hope is that this revised approach will make the application process simpler. They have made these changes as a direct result of commissioned research and consultation with groups who have experience of applying to them. To find out more about this research, please see the report (pdf file).    

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The Women's Resource Centre (WRC) provides pan-London policy and voice on behalf of the women's sector.  The primary purpose is to support women's organisations and projects to be more effective and sustainable but they also support WRC members who are non-women's organisations as well.

WRC provides training, information, resources and one-to-one support on a range of organisational development issues, and also lobby decision makers on behalf of the women's not-for-profit sector for improved representation and funding.

Contact them on 020 7324 3030 or info@wrc.org.uk.     

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Are you looking for funding?  

Funding Central is a free website enabling you to identify thousands of grants, contracts and loan finance opportunities. It is updated daily and features statutory and non-statutory funding all in one place. It has practical tools and resources supporting you to develop sustainable income strategies appropriate to your needs. Funding Central makes complex searching easy - sign up and receive weekly, tailored funding and finance alerts delivered straight to your inbox - register now at http://www.fundingcentral.org.uk/

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Some tools from Funding Central

Making better applications checklist tool

Fundraising activity doesn't start by finding a grant - there's a whole stage of preparation required first if you are to be successful in seeking and managing grants.  Applying for and managing grants can take a lot of time, and making unsuccessful applications wastes precious resources. There are many ways to improve your chances and to make the most from grant funding.   

The tool is easy to do - and you will receive some practical advice and suggestions about how you can develop your skills and expertise.

Income spectrum online tool

Use our online tool to explore your current income streams and assess whether a more diverse approach may benefit your organisation.

To complete this tool, you will need to know the sources of your income (donations, grants, contracts and/or trading activity), how many providers/schemes you have plus the amounts and timings involved for each income stream. We analyse this information and display your results - this will indentify your level of risk and provide you with suggestions about how to investigate opportunities across the income spectrum.  

Potential income streams tool

This interactive tool allows you to consider the impact a potential income stream would have on key areas of your organisation. You can create a report summarising the issues raised in your conversations, suggested outcomes and agreed actions.  

Funding Central tool for sustainability 

This interactive tool allows you to explore how you can expand your income base by enhancing your current products and markets, or by developing new ones.

These could be linked to the primary purpose or mission of your organisation, provide additional income that is unrelated to your mission, or partly contribute to your objectives.  

Use the tool to explore new options for your organisation and grow ideas to increase your financial sustainability.

You will be prompted with some suggestions for how you could expand or develop and will be able to view any additional funding that you could be eligible to receive should you develop further in these areas. 

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Free professional advice

ProHelp provides free professional advice and support to local community groups and voluntary organisations.   

They aim to ensure that you can access free help and advice with issues that might otherwise hinder your work. They focus their support in areas of greatest need and examples of the sorts of projects they help with are:  

• When and how should I negotiate a new lease for my building?
• Are my employment contracts in good order?
• How can I adapt my building to comply with the Disability Discrimination Act?
• Does my organisation need a brand identity?
• Are my accounting systems robust enough to deal with our rapid growth?

They offer:

• Access to a range of professional expertise including solicitors, accountants, surveyors, architects, public relations, marketing and management consultants who undertake one-off projects. 
• Advice surgeries - ProHelp also runs general advice surgeries and workshops on specific topics impacting on local community groups.

Your community organisation will need to meet certain criteria to be eligible for support.  Please read the 'Apply for Support' section before making an application to your local ProHelp group.

Business in the Community,137 Shepherdess Walk, London N1 7RQ Tel: 020 7566 8650 Fax:020 7253 1877 Email:  information@bitc.org.uk

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The Art of Raising Money:

Using marketing theory to stabilise and grow your income by Professor Ian Bruce CBE

Ian shows how commercial marketing theory is applicable to all types of fundraising and income generation and will help make it sustainable, integrated and rewarding. The ideas and tools in this fun and engaging publication are as relevant to income from donations as to contracts or trading and are suitable for anyone who is unfamiliar with marketing theory and needs to raise funds.

From using relationship marketing to woo major donors to using the ‘nonprofit customer focus tool' to manage contracts, this publication is bound to have some new ideas and new perspectives to help you to maximise your potential for raising income.

Price: £17.50/ NCVO Member price: £12.25

More details...  

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Useful info on all aspects of trading and social enterprise

NCVO offers you a wealth of information as well as publications.

This page explains what trading and enterprise mean for voluntary and community organisations, and why they are important.

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 New Philanthropy Capital (NPC)

 NPC is a consultancy and think tank dedicated to helping funders and charities achieve a greater impact.

"We offer advice based on in-depth research of social issues and on our own unique method of analysing charities. We build knowledge and tools to support charities and
funders and encourage debate about what makes a charity effective and how to measure impact.

Our mission is to put effectiveness at the heart of how all charities work and how all funders give. Changing more lives. Doing good, better."

Services include training, research and other useful publications.  

 Details.....  

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Starting, Funding, and Growing Businesses in Barnet 

Do you have an idea for a new enterprise? Need to talk to someone? 

 HBV (formerly Hackney Business Venture) is a Hackney-based charity and enterprise agency helping to reduce poverty and unemployment by encouraging enterprise in Hackney and other boroughs including Barnet.

The charity has a team of dedicated business advisers providing a range of services which include:

• Training and information for would-be entrepreneurs
• Access to business seminars and training opportunities
• One to One business counselling and advice

"We also operate Loan Funds (£3000-£25,000) that can help provide viable small firms to access finance, especially when they can't get all the funding they need. Small grants to new entrepreneurs are also available in certain circumstances.

 Details....

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Virgin Trains offer 20% discount to charity employees

 Virgin Trains are updating their scheme for discounted tickets for charity employees. This new scheme will see sales switch to an online system for advance tickets across all routes for a blanket 20% discount. To qualify you will need to create a Charity account at http://www.sme.thetrainline.com/buytickets/registerbusiness.aspx?dm_i=6Q4,7H4R,OY0PL,IRWA,1 and then email them with the necessary qualification information.

Full details of the process can be http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/promotions/prd47a6bc35ce741019b6b75f6258ae9/details.html?dm_i=6Q4,7H4R,OY0PL,IRWB,1    

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Social Investment Business - Communitybuilders

Communitybuilders is a £70m investment fund which takes forward a commitment within the Communities in Control: real people, real power White Paper to build more cohesive, empowered and active communities.  They are investing in some great local organisations; helping them realise their ideas to strengthen and support their communities.  The Social Investment Business manages the Communitybuilders Fund in partnership with Adventure Capital Fund (ACF) and Community Alliance, on behalf of Communities and Local Government and the Office of Civil Society. Communitybuilders is a £70 million Fund that provides loans, grants and business support to multi-purpose, inclusive, community-led organisations (sometimes known as Community Anchors) helping them become financially independent.

 You can find out more information here: http://www.communitybuildersfund.org.uk/

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The Learning Exchange

An online hub for the Extended Services community, hosted by ContinYou and supported by the Department for Education.

Here you will find a mass of information from funding alerts and fundraising tips to policies and strategies, toolkits and case studies.

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Outcomes based accountability

The National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) has published Implementing outcomes based accountability in children's services: an overview of the process and impact (pdf file). 

The Outcomes Based Accountability (OBA) model has been used as a way of structuring planning to improve outcomes for whole populations and for improving services. The OBA approach focuses on outcomes that are desired and monitoring and evidencing progress towards those desired outcomes.

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Mapping the Gaps in Income Generation

With funding from Capacitybuilders' National Support Service programme, ACEVO has launched a major piece of research called ‘Mapping the Gaps'.  To read more, see here.  The report explores the gaps that currently exist between the income generation needs of frontline organisations and the support available to them.

The research shows that frontline organisations mainly use ‘traditional' forms of income generation, with 93 per cent of respondents saying they use grants to a ‘great' or ‘some' extent. To download the full report, see here.

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Charity Builder

This is a free online service to help compliance with human resources and health and safety legislation

Charity Builder UK is a free, online service which can be used by all not-for-profit groups that are members of a CVS (like CommUNITY Barnet) including charities, community groups and social enterprises. The service has been funded by Capacitybuilders, and developed in recognition that small and medium sized charities often find it hard to comply with Human Resources and Health and Safety legislation - two notoriously difficult, time consuming and costly areas of essential administration which increasingly need to be demonstrated as part of funding applications.  Note that to be able to access Charity Builder services your organisation needs to be a CommUNITY Barnet member. Join CommUNITY Barnet today!

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Losing out because of ineligible funding applications?

The Directory of Social Change (DSC) has published a report on ineligible funding applications. The report is based on findings from a survey conducted for the Directory of Grant Making Trusts, which went out to 2,500 trusts and foundations.  More information... 

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Useful research for your funding applications

 London Poverty Profile

Trust for London, recently amalgamated with City Parochial Foundation, has produced updated figures that can be viewed here: http://www.londonspovertyprofile.org.uk/news/londons-poverty-profile-new-da/

Youth Taskforce study of perceptions in Youth Crime Action Plan areas

This Government survey canvassed the views of those living in areas of high antisocial behaviour (as defined by the Youth Crime Action Plan).  More information... 

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Social return on investment

New Philanthropy Capital has published a position paper which says that Social return on investment (SROI), which measures an organisation's impact in financial terms, is being held back by poor quality of evidence. It suggests that the charity sector could lose credibility with funders because of the poor quality of its impact measurement.
More information...

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Capacity Manager

ACEVO has launched an online tool to help you evaluate whether your internal support services are working effectively. More information...

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Collaborate for commissioning 

Bassac has developed a range of self-help and capacity-building guides to enable you to tender for and deliver public services. More information...

 

 

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