Greenability 2014 - Fundraising presentation
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The document summarizes a funding workshop that provided information to help organizations improve their ability to apply for and secure funding. The workshop covered understanding funders and their strategies, tips for successful applications such as following guidelines and checking for errors, key components of applications like demonstrating need and sustainability, and cultivating relationships with funders. Presenters from various funding organizations shared their expertise on these topics.
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Greenability 2014 - Fundraising presentation
- 1. Fundraising Workshop Outcomes for the session: - Know how and where to access information about funders. - Have improved confidence and ability in completing funding applications. - Have better knowledge of current funding opportunities Contributors: Sarah Gillen, ENABLE Scotland, Rita Hopper, Sense Scotland,Adele Goodfellow, Big Lottery Fund, The Forestry Commission Scotland & Catrin Hughes, TCV Scotland Greenability Conference
- 2. FUNDING WORKSHOP • Knowing your organisation • Understanding /awareness of key National and Local Government strategies • Key ingredients for successful applications • Relationships with funders
- 3. ORGANISATIONAL STRATEGY POLICY DRIVERS • Know your organisation’s strategy – purpose, direction • Understand national policy drivers – Keys to Life (ENABLE Scotland)
- 4. TIPS FOR SUCCESSFUL FUNDING APPLICATIONS • Understand the fund’s criteria • Read and follow the application guidelines • Simple things make a big difference! • Back up copy of application • Spelling and grammar • Don’t use jargon • Don’t leave it to the last minute! • Check and double check the attachments
- 5. TIPS FOR SUCCESSFUL FUNDING APPLICATIONS • Presentation • View every application as a competition
- 6. KEY COMPONENTS OF SUCCESSFUL FUNDING APPLICATIONS • Tell the funder who you are • Demonstrate a need for your project. • Show that your project is well planned. • Provide evidence of good management. • Illustrate how the project will make a difference – measuring success
- 7. OUTCOMES/OUTPUTS • Outcomes are the changes that your organisations are trying to achieve — the differences that you aim to make with our services. • To reduce the number of families reaching crisis point (outcome). • Outputs are the services, products and activities that your organisation offers to its users. • Run a series of parenting classes, and start a drop-in support group (outputs).
- 8. KEY COMPONENTS OF SUCCESSFUL FUNDING APPLICATIONS • Accurately cost your project. • Sustainability
- 9. WHY FUNDING APPLICATIONS ARE UNSUCCESSFUL • Applicants fail to illustrate why their project is needed, and do not make their plans explicit and concise on their application form. • The project is poorly planned and there is no indication of what the money will be spent on. • The funder’s guidelines have not been examined accurately and applications fail to demonstrate that they fulfil the criteria. • Applicants budget is inaccurate and does not display good financial management. • It is not shown that the organisation is well managed and is capable of successfully running the project, including effective monitoring and evaluation of the activity.
- 10. RELATIONSHIPS WITH FUNDERS • Talk to funders, cultivate relationships • Well written evidence based report • Scottish Funders forum guidelines • A good report tells a story • Is well structured, concise and easy to read • Makes a clear link to what you planned to do • Uses numbers clearly • Provides qualitative information
- 11. RELATIONSHIPS WITH FUNDERS • Is clear about what you know and do not know from the evidence you have collected • Gives a flavour of individuals' experiences of your organisation or project • Is honest • Explains the learning • On time! • No surprises!
Editor's Notes
- Thank you very much for inviting me to present at the Greenability conference. My name is Sarah Gillen and I am the Grants Manager for ENABLE Scotland. It’s my job to secure funding from grants, trusts, the local authority and the Scottish Government. I’m essentially the custodian of the grant processes at ENABLE Scotland. I work closely with colleagues to develop and submit funding application, essentially translating what their vision is into funder speak. I also provide monitoring and evaluation support and maintain relationships with our funders. My presentation will be ‘a how to’ guide to writing funding applications and maintaining positive relationships with funders, based on what I’ve learnt along my fundraising journey and known good practice.
- Before you even start consider applying for funding, you need to make yourself aware of your organisation’s strategic direction. A strategy gives an organisation purpose and direction, motivating trustees, staff and volunteers to engage meaningfully with the external environment – linking in to funders and beneficiaries. An organisation’s strategy makes it clear what the priorities are, and what the organisation’s resources should be concentrated on delivering. By knowing your organisation’s strategy, it will ensure that the projects you develop and seek funding for sit comfortably within your strategic priorities and enable your organisation to make progress towards its aims and objectives. The next step is to review what you want to achieve through your project against Scottish National Policies and Strategies. Many major funders (such as the Big Lottery) link their investments to projects that would enable progress towards particular policy’s outcomes. For example the National strategy that drives ENABLE’s work is The Keys to Life, a strategy that makes recommendations towards Improving quality of life for people with learning disabilities.
- Now that you’ve established that your project is in keeping with your organisations strategic priorities, your next task is to put your Sherlock Holmes hat on and start searching for funding! There are 2,500 trusts which will give to projects in Scotland! So where to start?! Your starting point is to carefully read and understand the fund’s criteria. Why waste anyone’s time including your own preparing an application for a fund that your project will quite simply be ineligible. Some funds can only support projects that are new and innovative; some can only fund projects within certain geographical locations; others won’t fund salary or running costs; some funders are only interested in capital funding where others offer revenue funding. It is important to be absolutely clear about why you are seeking funding and, if your application is going to stand a chance, you must make sure that it meets the objectives of the funder. When you receive the guidelines from the sponsoring body, read them very carefully. If you are still unsure, it is always better to contact them to discuss your project - in fact, some funders prefer this approach. This can save you a lot of time and effort, as it doesn’t matter how good you think your project is, if you fail to meet the criteria and requirements of the funder, there is no point in applying in the first place. A very useful document to read is the funder’s annual report, this will give you a good idea of the types of project they fund and the amounts of funding they typically give. For example Shared Care Scotland awards funding up to £50,000 but their average award is around £25,000. Once you have identified possible funders, here are some general tips for completing applications- Read the application guidelines carefully, making sure you provide all the information required. Failing to supply the required information lead to unnecessary delays in appraising which can have a negative impact if deadlines are tight. It also demonstrates to the scheme administrator that you give scant regard to their requirements, so not getting you off to a very good start! Simple things – keep a back up copy of your application, systems break down and in the worst case scenario it saves you from the horror of starting from scratch the day before the deadline. If spelling and grammar are not your strong point, get a colleague to review. Don’t use jargon – a good test is to ask yourself whether the man who sat next to you on the bus would understand what you’re writing. Don’t leave your application to the last minute. If you’re going to bother applying, do it properly. It’s less stressful and you’ll have a better chance of success. I heard about one grants manager who was completing a funding application the day before the deadline. About 3pm, he realised the application had to be signed by the chair of the board. After several frantic phonecalls he found out she was on annual leave as it was her daughter’s birthday party. He then had to drive for an hour to her house to get the document signed and just made the deadline by minutes! Not good for the blood pressure! Check and double check that you’ve enclosed all the supporting papers that are needed. Then ask a colleague to check one last time
- As well as the content of your application, the layout and presentation is vital. Make the structure stand out by using clearly defined titles and subtitles, with consistent use of capital letters, bold and underlined text etc, and select a font that is easy to read and makes the best use of space. This way the reader can follow where they are in an application immediately from the appearance on the page. Also, always be aware that information can often be presented in a more helpful and easy to understand manner in tables, graphics or figures rather than in text. View every application as a competition – many bids fail simply because they’re not as compelling as others submitted during the same round. Make no mistake – this is a sales pitch! Your evidence of research needs to be complete and compelling; your engagement with your target audience well documented, showing clear demand for your work. Your outcomes must be clear and measurable; your management and financial models shown to be robust. In short, you must show your organisation to be capable, credible and visionary
- Each funder will normally have their own funding application. If they don’t, keep your application short, no longer than 2 sides of A4. Essentially funders all want the same information – who you are; what the need for the project is and how you know; what difference your project will make and how you will know; how will it be managed; how much it costs and sustainability. Tell the funder who you are – Basically, to give the funder an insight into the type and breadth of work that you are currently capable of. It is essential to emphasise the fact that your organisation is well run. Briefly explain the organisation’s background, aims and activities. Emphasise that it is reputable and efficiently run; - has a clear and specific vision of what it wishes to do, knows how it aims to achieve its goals; that it has a strong management committee that is dedicated and democratic; - has finances that are regulated and in order; give a brief account of how and why your group/organisation was started, how it is run, what area it covers, what ethos it is based on. They’ll want to know if you have a management committee/Board with the skills to govern your project responsibly; and if you have a constitution setting out your aims and objectives. Once you’ve summarised your organisation, versions of this can be used for other applications. Project need - In a lot of cases, applications are rejected because funders do not believe that there is a need for the project, or because they are not persuaded that your idea will solve a particular problem or is what people want. Ask yourself the following questions: * What needs do your target group have? * How do you know that they have such needs? * Why is it important that these needs are met? * How will your proposed project fulfil those needs? ‘Need’ can cover a number of aspects such as unemployment levels, a lack of educational achievement, crime levels etc. To demonstrate the extent of your target group’s ‘need’, you must have facts and figures to support your case. You could use statistics from a recognised source or conduct your own survey/ questionnaire asking people about their views. Many funders such as Shared Care Scotland and their Better Breaks and Creative Breaks funding streams and the Big Lottery ask for evidence of consultation and/or co-production. Funding bodies will always want to see evidence of good management and that your organisation is capable of delivering the project. It is extremely important that you have efficient procedures for the handling of finances within your organisation (ie a good bookkeeping system and properly prepared accounts) and that you can provide evidence that you will be able to account for the money that is given to you. In addition, funders will also look at the policies that an organisation has in place, including Health and Safety, employment, child protection and equal opportunities. Measuring success - In these tough economic times, even more pressure is on funders to report to their stakeholders that funded projects are good value and their funding is making a difference. A recent report ‘How are you getting on?’ stated that funders have greater emphasis on outcomes than ever before with 2/3 of them asking for monitoring and evaluation information. However, according to the report, charities often struggle to measure and communicate results to funders. Research by Charities Evaluation Services found that three-quarters of third sector respondents identified insufficient time for monitoring and evaluation as causing difficulties for them. All funders therefore do need to feel confident that your organisation can competently manage the project and its funds. For all funding proposals you need to build in strong monitoring and evaluation strategies that will clearly demonstrate and evidence the impact (or difference) that projects will make. For example for each outcome, you need to identify sources of data (such as post session evaluation forms) that would be collected for monitoring purposes and to evidence change. You must think about monitoring at the planning stages of your project and try not to leave it until you get your grant. Set specific targets that you want to measure or milestones that you want to reach, and make a decision about how you are going to measure whether you have achieved them. This will also show funders that you really do care about your project and the difference it will make.
- People often get confused about the difference between outcomes and outputs. Outcomes are the changes that your organisations are trying to achieve — the differences that you aim to make with our services. Outputs are the services, products and activities that your organisation offers to its users. For example, a local charity might seek to reduce the number of families reaching crisis point. This is an outcome. To achieve this outcome, the charity might decide to run a series of parenting classes, and start a drop-in support group. These are outputs. At the end of the presentation, I thought it would be helpful to give you an opportunity to work on outcomes for your projects.
- Accurately cost your project – Once you have devised your project plan you will need to calculate how much money you require to enable you to carry it out, justifying the amount you have requested. It may be that you draw up a budget for your organisation’s work as a whole, a separate budget for a particular activity, or a single figure for a one-off item of equipment. Whatever you require funding for, when drawing up a budget you should include all aspects of your project - even the hidden costs like salaries/cost of the staff involved in the administration of your project, premises and related expenditure (rates/rent/fuel), communications (telephone/postage), and any travel or training. Make sure that you do not guess what the costs may be, but get estimates or quotes to illustrate how you have worked the costs out. You could even review what you have spent in previous years or look at the accounts of other organisations that have carried out similar activities in the past to give you an idea of the value. Be realistic when breaking down costs; budgets should accurately reflect the planning, research, project delivery and evaluation. Grant assessors will always look out for over and under- estimated costings. Most funding bodies will want to know if you have approached any other funders or secured any other funding. Make sure you have researched whether the funding body you are applying to prefers to be the sole funder or understands that there may be other investors. Again carefully read the funder’s guidelines as some funders do not support full cost recovery and only cover the project costs. For example the Peoples Millions don’t cover office rent etc. Sustainability – this is one of the key issues that you need to address with any funding application. How will the project continue after the grant has ceased. Consideration of this doesn’t just include the funding, but other resources such as staffing and your capacity to continue the project. It may well be that you require a grant for a one off purchase and you don’t require anything further. However you will need to demonstrate sustainability as no funder wants to help kick start activity which will die a death when the money runs out! I recommend you put together a funding plan identifying ways and other funders to continue the project. Plans for continuation funding should be put in place a minimum of 6 months before the funding runs out.
- One of the main reasons proposals are unsuccessful is because they have been submitted to the wrong funding scheme in the first place. It is common for people to spend too much time on writing the proposal and not enough time on analysing the key features of a programme. Rather than attempting to make your proposal fit into the format and eligibility criteria required, identify the most appropriate scheme and spend time producing a well structured proposal with key aims that are aligned with the programme’s funding objectives. As discussed earlier, it is often the case that many funding providers do not have sufficient budgets to meet all requests for funding due to the increasing number of applicants who approach them for support. It is, therefore, a good idea to be familiar with the common reasons why funding bodies reject applications, in order to prevent such issues from arising. This slide lists the top reasons why applications fail.
- As in every walk of life, it’s the relationships that you cultivate with new funders that will bear fruit in the future. Talk to them to understand what’s important to them, what a successful application will need to include. If you’ve been turned down, ask how you can improve for next time. Many funders offer either formal or informal advice to guide you through their process. A key component of fostering relationships with existing funders is a well written evidence based project report demonstrating the impact of the project, how it has been successfully managed and how the funds have been spent. Funders will be supportive of future bids if they know their funding is a good investment and in safe hands. There are guidelines issued by the Scottish Funders Forum in writing funding reports I thought it would be helpful for you to review these. The guidelines are :- A good report tells a story – of what you did and what difference you made. 2. Is well structured, concise and easy to read. 3. Makes a clear link to what you planned to do (or said you’d do when you got the funding). That might include explaining that things have not quite happened as you expected – and why. 4. Uses numbers clearly. Funders want to know how many people you worked with and what you did. 5. Provides qualitative information – not just numbers. Qualitative information provides depth and detail about attitudes, feelings and behaviour and gives a better sense of ‘why’ and ‘how’.
- 7. Gives a flavour of individuals' experiences of your organisation or project. A quote or short case study should be used to illustrate your numbers and qualitative information. 8. Is honest. Funders know things sometimes go wrong. If you say it was all perfect they might be suspicious and ask questions. 9. Sets out what you have learned, what you might do differently in future. 10. Is submitted by the agreed deadline in the agreed format. And finally, follows the principle of no surprises. If things are going wrong, don’t wait until the report is due to tell the about the problem. The funder is more likely to be supportive if you give them notice of variations, challenges or changes. As I’ve mentioned before I work closely with project management staff throughout the life of a project. The practice we have established at ENABLE is that when a project is starting to experience challenges for example if a project officer has left or if the project is expecting an underspend, the project manager contacts me. Together we work out a solution and I then get in touch with the funder to discuss the problem and seek approval for our solution. Funders have told me that they appreciate this approach as it is another confirmation that their funds are in safe hands and are being well looked after. I’ll now hand you over to Rita Hopper from Sense Scotland who will provide you with information about Sources of Funding & current opportunities. Thank you