Talking to your funder – how can we all develop a win/win relationship? | Scotland Networking Group | 20 February 2019
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Emma Whitfield, head of engagement and communications, Big Lottery Fund Scotland Visit the CharityComms website to view slides from past events, see what events we have coming up and to check out what else we do: www.charitycomms.org.uk
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Talking to your funder – how can we all develop a win/win relationship? | Scotland Networking Group | 20 February 2019
- 1. Talking to your funder – developing a win-win relationship Emma Whitfield Head of Communications and Engagement, Scotland
- 2. 2 V
- 3. 3 Go to menti.com Use the code 79 82 88
- 5. 5 More than monitoring Funding Officers Better support for future projects, use in funding decisions for similar projects Funded organisations Share/apply best practice from other projects Funder Influence strategy by determining best practice and telling story of impact
- 6. 6 Why your stories are important to your funder You are doing amazing work to help people. Your project is made possible by [INSERT FUNDER] funding. We want to thank National Lottery players for making a difference in their communities.
- 7. 7 Storytelling in the media • Good story/hook • Current and relevant • Human interest • So what? • Need someone willing to tell their story publicly • Mention your funder
- 8. 8 With a little help from my friends
- 9. 9 It’s not all shares, likes and social
- 10. 10 Over to you… …any questions?
- 11. 11 1. Who is in your funding eco system and what steps can you take to work better together? 2. Think about 3 key moments coming up over the next year and how you can make them stronger?
Editor's Notes
- Welcome Introduce self and working history Time for some questions at the end but feel free to interrupt if you have a burning question Please have your phones to hand we’re going to get a tiny bit interactive…
- Today I’m going to cover (in the context of your relationship with your funder) The difference between monitoring & reporting and how to tell your story of how your work is making a difference Why you need a relationship with more than just your funding officer It’s not all likes shares and social…
- Phones out – quick exercise tell me the top 3 daily things you are trying to achieve in communications for your charity or organisation https://www.mentimeter.com/s/d625df41ee1ea2eb1bd5b537c830cb03/08d918e99ce9 Should be media coverage, understanding of your key messages political influencing Fundraising Engagement (what do we mean by that (I think we’re all measuring different things) Guess what these are all the things that your funder is trying to achieve too In trying to achieve those communications objectives who else in your organisation do you have to work with Project manger Staff Chief exec Policy lead Volunteers etc Guess what so do we – working with out funding officer team etc And we know it’s not all easy as what’s important and is our area of priority to us is not often our colleagues number 1 priority
- As a funder we ask all those we work with to report back to us on a yearly basis. This is in fact our most regular touch point for information sharing but on both sides it can be disappointing and, on both sides it’s often the case that the communications team is out of the loop all together Many charities have more than one funder to report to and depending on the size of organization this can more the task fall to a single person (really onerous) or a number all the project leads. Those reporting/monitoring forms often seem really dry and don’t appear as an opportunity but as a necessary part of the funding process. But they are a fantastic opportunity. It’s the communications teams to talk to their project teams and under that very often funders want more information than just numbers/receipts So personal stories and case studies that can bring a statistic to life Project opening etc MSP visits
- We worked with Evaluation Support Scotland as we wanted to understand issues for staff and grantholders around monitoring As you can imagine we got a lot of data but there we also interesting findings as to the mutual benefit of monitoring and regular reporting and what’s clear is when this kind of activity actually involved a cross functional team than more people are bought into it and it offers a richer source of data As a funder this means that we should be able to take you best practice and then bring it together with other funded activity to tell a bigger story And we can also connect your organisations with others doing similar work. Few grantholders currently benefiting directly from BLF shared learning Expect BLF to be collating evaluation learnings - but little evidence Appreciate potential benefits of learning from others (and several sharing information & learning through other channels) Appetite for BLF to play greater role Raises profile with other funders as we do talk – sustainability. But the opportunity to use this data for story telling is significantly limited when communications teams are not involved (on both sides)
- As a funder your stories are our stories too. It’s key for both you and us to understand You are one of the thousands of projects all over the UK doing amazing things with money raised by National Lottery players. National Lottery funding is unique – people in your communities buy the tickets that allow you to receive the funding to develop the projects And you can help ensure that those people know the difference the funding is making in their communities. Every project has a wealth of potential stories Its important that you acknowledge where your funding has come from and later on we’ll give you some tips about how you can mention The National Lottery Community Fund and thank National Lottery players for making your project possible. Msp closely linked to local councillors etc. networking making your organisation relevant and important. Talk about public affairs here – ask to showcase a theme, ask to showcase local work win win local champion for you in terms of politician and greater profile (good if your fundraising) NOT all about media stories. Best practice case studies are also really helpful to funders but it’s important to know the difference between media CS and other DISCOVER which projects at your organisation are funded by which funders – then contact the funders comms teams – ask them their priorities etc
- What makes a good story in the media - you always need a good story/hook to gain the media’s interest It’s not all about you - always think about what you can offer them Think about your project – can you think of someone whose life has been transformed thanks to your support? They could be a great ambassador for your project Think about these people when we are thinking about putting a good story together. Emphasise the key elements. Good story/hook - choose the angle that grabs people’s attention. For personal stories have a story arc example – Cruse marriage Current and relevant – tie in with current news agenda eg Bogside and Brandywell, always be ready to spot opportunities – Chinese new year Human interest element which will be of relevance to those listening, watching or reading at home. Remember the ‘so what’ rule. Always make sure person is comfortable to tell their story and be identified. Remember - once it’s out there, it’s out there e.g a local story/blog could be picked up in different ways/formats eg by a national paper # Different stories might work better if different formats – TV, online, traditional print, radio – what can you offer to tie in with their needs? Mention your funding! Discussion – 10mins Have any of you got any stories that have or you think might get media coverage for your project recently? Any volunteers - 60s to tell us a good story about someone you’ve helped? get feedback from the group
- You can’t do this all alone. So while you might ask your project lead to put you in touch with the funders communications team why not make a direct approach.
- It’s not all likes, shares and social…vanity metrics meaningful who are we trying to talk to in the right places/areas cold spots etc Trying to make them more meaningful Dialogue and conversation (as well as shares and likes) create online community rather than a forum FB groups Twitter lists Follow But call to action can work… Year of young people Digital campaign here Being a part of a movement Consider your metrics think user led and evidence based about what works for you Pr week https://www.prweek.com/article/1493257/pr-state-reinvention-challenge Many people tag every funder for everything that they put up. If there’s something about a specific peiece of work that funded by 1 funder just tag them. And somethings if you’re running s social campaign – think about which funders you might want to more staregically use Help them to understand that we have our needs constantly be looking at ways to promote We so generalist If they seize opportunities Video podcast Everyone talks about
- Evening in the smallest organisation we rarely work in isolation as communicator. Who is in your funding eco system and how might you work better together? Think about how you might build a better relationship with them – set yourself a couple of people/functions to target and think about: What would you like them to do/how would you like them to act How you can make that happen – what are you next steps Think about 3 key moments coming up over the next year and how you can make them stronger? We can often amplify and work better for our own campaigns - our engagement will be richer and we will have (influential) partners onside ready to advocate for us. Consider your comms goals and think about who (for each of them) you could to work with to make that to happen.