One World Together’s Post

***THE FUTURE OF FUNDING*** I’ve been asked to deliver a session on this subject a few times now over the past couple of months on behalf of Cwmpas and Start Something Good, alongside various partners such as Givey, The National Lottery Community Fund, the WCVA | CGGC’s Catalyst Cymru project, Coalfields Regeneration Trust, Bridgend County Borough Council, Social Business Wales, and a number of Shared Prosperity Funded projects. Here are my key takeaways: - 1. Grant funding opportunities are reducing and are therefore more competitive. To be dependent on grants alone is extremely high risk. 2. Continuation/repeat funding is extremely rare. Therefore, groups need to think strategically about what funds they go for and when. 3. Third sector groups need to consider multiple income sources to better their chances of sustainability and survival. Other funding avenues could include corporate sponsorship, fundraising, and contract delivery (tendering)… or ideally, a combination of all the above. 4. Contract delivery is a very realistic and sustainable income stream for many groups. More on this subject can be found here (https://lnkd.in/e8v5yKBT). 5. Fundraising requires strategy! Over £10 BILLION is donated in the UK each year. Simply putting a “Donate here” button on a website will achieve nothing (there’s a lot more to it!). Understand which is the best digital platform for you, who your potential donors are, where you can reach them, and what your message will be. For more information you can access some of my slides here (https://lnkd.in/eGg3UPHN), or some relative blogs here (https://lnkd.in/eGipf-Yj). #Funding #Grants #Charities #ThirdSector #Communities

Capital grants of up to £250k are available to extend the capacity of UK charities working to improve the quality of life for people in need The funding is available from The Edward Gosling Foundation’s Capital Grant Programme and is to expand the capacity of UK-registered charities and CIOs working to improve the quality of life for people in need, particularly those living on very low incomes who have a disability or long-term illness. It is for major capital projects that align with one or more of the Foundation’s funding themes: Health and wellbeing Independent living at home Respite Transition Projects should also build new capacity, promote sustainability, and significantly change the way care is delivered. Decisions under this programme can take 90 days, and grants of up to £250K are available, but amounts will vary depending on the size and scope of the project. Trustees may award more for projects they believe are truly innovative. https://lnkd.in/e7eExKQj

Funding Opportunity 🔔 💷 Capital grants of up to £250,000 are available to expand the capacity of UK registered charities and CIO’s working to improve the quality of life for people in need, particularly those living on very low incomes who have a disability or long-term illness. The funding is made available by the Edward Gostling Foundation through their Capital Grant Programme. This programme encourages organisations to bring forward major capital projects costing £1 million or more that align with one or more of the foundation’s funding themes. The funding themes are: - Health and wellbeing - Independent living at home - Respite - Transition These projects should build new capacity, promote sustainability, and bring about a step change in the way care is delivered. https://lnkd.in/euYQ_dTn #BHPfundingfriday #whyBHP #charity #notforprofit Laura Masheder Jane Marshall - Audit partner, head of charities Lesley Kendrew Rachel Heath Neil Baldwin

Unlocking Opportunities: Transforming Your Investments into Life-Changing Moments 🏡 In the wake of the global pandemic, the housing sector has seen unprecedented challenges and opportunities. At Locate Property, we've been at the forefront of this, partnering with multiple Housing Charities across the UK, providing housing to vulnerable individuals. Our latest article delves into our innovative business model and the impact it has on society and your investments. 🌟 Learn more about our approach, the incredible returns it brings, and how you can get involved in making a difference. Read the featured article here: https://lnkd.in/euQbwimF #locateproperty #housingcharities #propertyinvestment #realestate #housingmarket #socialimpact #secureinvestment #giveback #BTL #charitycontracts

🆕 report: Actions that matter most to charities - Improving the funding experience In 2022, IVAR conducted a survey of 1,214 charities from across the UK, asking them about their funding experience. We aimed to identify which changes to funder practice would have the most beneficial impact. The feedback was unambiguous: a more open and trusting grant-making experience leads to stronger organisations that can respond more quickly to the needs of their communities are better able to plan for the future. This led to us creating a list of ten practical actions that funders could take to improve charities’ experience of applying for and managing grants. Two years later, and with charities operating under extreme pressures – facing rising costs, huge demand for services and a highly competitive funding environment – funder actions matter more than ever. This short report reviews recent evidence about charities’ funding experience, and brings the 10 actions up to date. View the report here: https://buff.ly/3Ty1a7l Do you have any thoughts? 🤔

As always, great insight and ideas from Eastside People and Richard Litchfield for charities in this year ahead. Six clear insights, including "to support charities consider how best to deploy AI via AI Workshops for charity boards". 💡 A quick read with tangible and applicable ideas.

If a long term supporter removes your funding it can be utterly terrifying, and as more and more statutory funding is being removed from the charity sector more charities are finding themselves in that scary vulnerable position. To try and keep things going a lot of organisations are heading over to well-known trust and foundation donors and presenting them with exactly what the [insert statutory funder here, probably the council] previously requested. They are asking new donors to just pick up what had been dropped, and it isn't working. If you find yourself in this situation try not to do the knee-jerk replacement funding application. A poorly considered application can take you out of the running with that donor for another year, sometimes more. It can also really damage what could be a very brilliant relationship. Take some time to really, really, look at what is needed. What do the people you exist to help want? Are the things the council/whoever funded you to do really doing the job? Or are you just doing what you have always done? Could you shift your structure or delivery to do more good in a different way? Once you know you have the right structure and strategy in place, that is when you should apply. I know it is really hard, but just stop for a little bit, really consider your approach and be really really kind to yourself in the process.

Great tips as we start 2024 from our CEO Richard Litchfield. Also excited to share this short video which explains everything you need to know about Eastside People and how we help social sector leaders build the capacity and impact of their organisations - https://lnkd.in/eYdAm29n

Rocket Science UK Ltd we use the eight funder commitments developed by the Institute For Voluntary Action Research These align to our values and how we work to educate funders from programme design through to review and learning. These 10 actions resonate with what we see and hear from applicants and grantees alike and there are no surprises. We should all reflect and use an applicant journey. We should ensure barriers to applying are reduced, language and the process is both clear and straight forward, that funders only ask for what is needed through each stage of the process, and that funds are multi year and unrestricted. We should remember that a grant is a gift, that we should trust organisations. They know what is needed to reach the agreed outcomes!

I've mentioned this report to so many charity people. The guidance makes so much sense. Much as I'd love to see unrestricted core costs funding much more prevalent, I also think these principles can be applied to project funding. For project funding, if the funder is funding the outcome (whether that's 100 people in to work, a festival, a new building or whatever) the individual budget lines don't matter too much. Having to get permission from a funder to change the budget is utterly ridiculous. Just fund the outcome, make it a designated instead of restricted fund, and leave the charity to figure it out. And use the same report for all supporters of that project. There's always cost variations - skills that you got pro bono when you'd budgeted for them, building costs that turned out to be different from quote, endless variations... The recent lottery cost of living grant (much as I was very grateful for it) was pretty bad in this regard.