Fundraising

See also Campaigning

Grant Writing

• Research to try to find every opportunity that would be available to you
  • https://www.charityexcellence.co.uk/
  • NVCO https://www.myfundingcentral.co.uk/
• Make a list including deadlines, requirements, fit, and funding amount, competition, rough idea of award announcement date
• Prioritise application work based on those metrics (e.g. low amount but low competition and high fit would be one to prioritise)
• Create a grant writing plan based on their deadlines and how you can leverage materials from each different application to streamline work. It's useful to include when you will find out about the award as well to see how you can use learnings from failed grant applications

• Fundraising calendar -
  • Environmental Funders Network https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1yFuT4yrbs74SeAH46UkiAB_qZBXgOQTgRHJYa5vjm88/edit?gid=0#gid=0
  • Funds for NGOs https://www2.fundsforngos.org/sustainable-development/jrct-accepting-applications-for-sustainable-future-programme-united-kingdom/
• Funding-ready:
  • do you fit the funders criteria? Do we meet their aims?
  • what is the application process & deadline - do you have time?
  • read complete application form & guidance note for instructions, and to gather vocabulary to use in the application
  • the 10 application killers:
    1. the project is outside the funder's criteria or doesn't meet the funder's outcomes
    2. the applicant did not complete all the questions
    3. poorly written with inconsistencies or mistakes in the application
    4. not being able to submit the required additional documents
    5. the project benefits the organisation but not the people in the community
    6. there is no evidence of need for the project
    7. waffled rather than answering questions on the form
    8. unrealistic targets or outcomes
    9. unrealistic costings or monitoring proposals
    10. the contact given in the application could not answer questions the funder asked about the project
• The Need - why, how do you know, what is the problem
  • good answer for Needs will use combination of types of evidence (and referenced):
    • evidence: number of participants - age, ethnic background, postcodes
    • waiting lists (v. persuasive)
    • reports - AGMs, evaluations, research
    • anecdotal, from volunteers, not formal
    • evidence from other groups - also emphasising differentiation from them
    • quantitative stats: Islington Poverty Hub, London Poverty Profile, Neighbourhood stats - Find a Hood, Census 2021, reference library
• The Aims, Objectives and Outcomes
  • be realistic - targets and outcomes based on previous work - baby steps
  • outcomes
    • encapsulate the difference & change for the beneficiaries
    • use: more / better / increased / reduced / improved / maintained (stability)
    • SMART goals: specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time-bound
    • e.g. soft:
      • 25 young people will be more confident and able to express their opinions by the end of the project
      • e.g. increased confidence in situations
    • hard:
      • less CO2 emissions
      • more biodiversity & green space
    • soft outcomes pave the way to hard outcomes
    • read "grant-application-outcomes.pdf"
• Activities
• document community interactions: who, how many, any other organisations
• Inclusion and Reach (beneficiaries)
• Tracking Progress - monitoring and evaluation - must prove achievements
  • baseline at the start
  • measure impact
  • qualitative and quantitative data
  • tools:
    • attendance registers
    • questionnaires
    • interviews
    • feedback forms
    • case studies
    • diaries, logs
    • focus groups to gather feedback
    • longer term follow-ups
    • video evidence from filmed sessions

Setting your fundraising target

• I'd assess this with a bottom-up exercise of how much you need to achieve your short-term goals. For context, a start-up in your position would typically be getting funding in the low hundreds of thousands to last a skeleton crew about a year. For a burgeoning charity, I assume this is much less (likely 10s or even less).
• This fundraising target will be intimately linked to your short-term goals as, particularly for grants, they will want to know exactly what you are going to do with the money (including things like work plans, impact assessments etc.).
• make a detailed business plan for the next 3-5 years - I make these for a living so I can help once you've made a draft - this is a good draft: https://www.councilofnonprofits.org/tools-resources/business-planning-nonprofits