Fund-raising from Trusts
Preparation
Research
the Trusts
Tailor your application
What is Matched
Funding?
Application
Letters
Feed back
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First the Good News ……
Around 9,000 trusts give away nearly £2Bn each year in the
UK!
It is worth remembering that their job is to use their money to
support appropriate causes. By doing our homework well we are
helping them to do their job. We are not grovelling and pleading,
we are working together with the trusts so that both of us can
achieve our aims.
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Preparation
What are your aims? Be able to give a clear and concise description
of what you are trying to achieve. Do you have assessable targets for
the first six months, year, three years, so that you will be able to
demonstrate whether your project has been a success?
Have you set a realistic budget? Have you included all the costs; for
example, if your project uses premises or equipment from another project
or parent organisation are you making an appropriate contribution to
cover rent and maintenance?
Planning the phases or stages of a project may, in some cases, give
applications for funding a greater chance for success. For example imagine
a project that includes a toilet with wheelchair access and a new kitchen
both of which require water and drains to be laid in. The costs for
these services will be attached to which ever is planned first, if the
application for the toilet is more likely to be funded than the kitchen
then it would be best to plan to do this first.
Though not strictly part of a budget the value of goods donated and
volunteers' time should be included somewhere. This both demonstrates
your commitment to the project and may be acceptable as Matched
Funding.
Is the project financially viable? You are unlikely to get full funding
from a single trust so can you demonstrate where the balance of the
funding is likely to come from? How much have you already raised - can
you demonstrate your commitment to the project by describing the work
that you have already put in?
How will the project be organised and managed?
Will it be the direct responsibility of the church council or will you
set up a separate management committee? A clearly separate management
committee may make fund-raising easier in some cases. For example, some
trusts will not make grants directly to churches; this objection may
be overcome, however, if the committee's funds are separate from the
church funds and will only be used for the purpose stated in the grant
application. If you do take advantage of this you need to ensure that
the committee is really separate; for example it should have its own
bank account and, if it uses church premises, it should be based on
a relatively formal agreement and pay an agreed rent (which itself would
be part of the budget and grant application). Will the management committee
include representatives of significant non-church agencies or organisations
with whom you are working or who are advising you?
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Research
the Trusts
Time spent in research will probably save time later. Why waste time
making applications to trusts whose rules or priorities do not allow
them to fund your project? Even worse, why have your application rejected
because you have not sent all the information that they require?
The first thing you need to do is find trusts whose terms of reference
include what you are trying to achieve. Sources of information include:
Council for Voluntary Services: phone 01922 654700 or 01922 722819
Black Country Consortium for Voluntary Sector Support: 0121 557 6222
You could also try the Internet but unless you know what you are looking
for this can be time consuming and may miss significant possibilities.
For some potentially useful starting points go to Web
Links - Fundraising.
Word of mouth - do you know anybody else who has made successful grant
applications?
Or, as a last resort, me! (I have access
to some grant finder software)
The next step is to phone or write off to each potential funder for
an Application Form or Application Guidelines.
If you still have questions about either your eligibility or the application
process get in touch with the trust again to clarify the situation,
this will save time for both you and them in the long run.
Check:
Tailor
your application
Show how your aims fit their priorities; don't distort what you are
aiming to achieve but as you write your application put your aims that
meet their priorities at the top of the list.
What information do they ask for?
Give it ALL; budgets, forecasts, audited accounts, job descriptions
etc.
What will they expect from you?
Do they require evidence that you have used the money appropriately
and that you have achieved what you set out to do? Some trusts are happy
to give you money and trust you to use it appropriately, making no subsequent
checks on your project. Others can have pretty stringent requirements
for accounting for outcomes and expenditure.
Some ask for publicity, asking for press releases to local press etc.
should include acknowledgement of their contribution but others specifically
request anonymity. Some make very specific requests like asking for
their logo to appear on your letterhead.
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What
is Matched Funding?
Some trusts and grant awarding bodies refuse to fund the whole of a
project even if the activities fall within their funding criteria; there
are three main reasons for this:
1. Demonstrating commitment: The funders
may be asking how much commitment you have to your own project. You
can demonstrate this by committing your own money, putting in time and
effort (donations "in kind"), undertaking fund-raising activities
and raising grants from other sources. Take care about assessing the
value of work done by volunteers - one way is to obtain the usual three
commercial quotes for the work before you begin or you could use an
hourly rate. Keep the paperwork; you don't know when you may be asked
to justify your estimate or want to reuse it for another application.
2. Demonstrating confidence: Have you managed to persuade others
of the viability of your project and do they think that it is
worth supporting?
3. Leverage: Local government administered schemes can be particularly
keen on offering leverage as it draws more money into the area. They
provide the initial funding that will lever in money from other trusts.
For example they may agree to fund 25% or 30% of a project's costs in
the expectation that this will enable you to raise the rest of the funds
from trusts requiring matched funding. There is, however a potential
pitfall, the agreement that you enter into may well require you demonstrate
that you have raised at least a proportion of the balance of the funds
before you receive the actual money.
Leverage funding can be really useful to get the fund-raising process
started. But if for example, you have an agreement for £250 towards
a £1,000 project and then have problems raising the £750,
you do not have £250 that you could use for a scaled down project.
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Application
Letters
Applications should have Immediate Appeal; First Impressions are important.
They will be asking: Is it worth reading on? Am I looking for reasons
to support this project or reasons to reject it?
Consider writing a covering letter by hand in black ink this has been
shown to create a good impression. Only do this, however, if your writing
is clear and easy to read.
Personalise the letter, avoid "Dear Sir or Madam" if at all
possible. Take care however, about personalising the envelope, if the
named recipient is out of the office for a while your application may
end up in an in-tray for some time. So either, make the envelope general
by addressing it to the organisation, or use your contact's name but
also put "Grant Application" on the envelope.
The application and letter should be:
Concise: The covering letter, for example, should usually be
no longer than one side of A4.
Clear: Easy to read.
Well laid out: Support document headings should be consistent
and recognisable; use the same font etc. for the project title and consistent
headers or footers. (Ask yourself if all the papers become separated
how easy would it be to identify yours and put your application back
together?)
Photocopyable: Take care if using coloured paper or print; some
colours of print do not photo copy well and some paper colours come
out grey and obscure the print.
A typical letter should include:
Project Title
Dear …
A "sound bite" which summarises your project in a single
sentence.
Introduction
The issue
The solution
Why should we be given money - what is special about us?
Why should you give us money - how do we meet your criteria?
An outline budget and funding plan
The request: be clear and explicit, ask for all the money that you
need which is consistent with the trust's funding criteria.
Whom should they contact if they want clarification or further information?
To whom should they send the cheque?
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Feed back
Please let me know how you get on, success or failure, so that
I can pass on your experience.
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