Funding - The Basics
Innovative learning projects need proper resourcing and for many organisations it will be necessary to raise funds to meet at least some of the costs. Fundraising takes time and skill. You may be lucky enough to have a dedicated fundraising professional on your staff. However, for the majority of smaller organisations, the reality will be juggling fundraising with a host of other responsibilities. The next few pages are not intended to be a comprehensive guide to fundraising but may give you a few pointers and help you find the right direction. If you need more information, check out the sections on ‘useful contacts’ ‘books and references’.
Raising money takes time, and, with a bit of creativity and planning, and some thorough research you can increase your chances of success.
There are many different demands for funds and plenty of different sources from major capital appeals, to sponsorship, to company or personal giving. Whatever method or methods you decide to choose, it’s important first to establish:
- Do you have desirable achievable and precise objectives (people won’t fund ill thought through plans)
- Do you have thorough costings for the project? And are they realistic, reflecting all the costs that will be involved?
- Do you have access to any influential people in the community, regionally or nationally who might support your case?
- Do you have any dedicated professional staff to manage the fundraising or who could be called on for advice? If not, who will take responsibility?
- Don’t forget: fundraising costs money. Can you afford to do it?
Fundraising consultants
Fundraising consultants can be useful if you are embarking on a major appeal, if you require a feasibility study or just some advice. Get in touch with the Institute of Charity Fundraising Managers or the Association of Fundraising Consultants for lists of useful contacts.
When to fundraise
It’s important to allow plenty of time for fundraising. If the event or project for which your seeking funds is due to take place next week, you’ve probably left it too late. It is advisable to allow at least 6 to18 months to raise funds for a project. Often major capital projects will be raising funds over a number of years.
Why does it take so long?
- Researching and writing proposals and getting partners on board will take you time.
- Many funders have fixed timescales and you can only apply once or twice a year at fixed points
- Funders have lots of applications to sift through it may take several months to do this.
- Sometimes funders may need to consult specialist advice or decisions about awards will be made by Trustees who may only meet at certain times of the year
If you allow plenty of time, you still have time to look elsewhere if you are turned down!
The Fundraising Plan
The first step to embarking on any sort of fundraising is to devise a fundraising plan. This should help you to:
- Define what it is you want to do
- Formulate how you will go about it
- Figure out who can help your and draw up a list of partners
- Draw up long and short term plans and projects
- Cost out various elements of projects
- Set deadlines
- Research potential funding sources
- Set timescales
It is important to work out what you want to do and how much it will cost at the beginning before you even think about where you’re going to find the funds rather than the other way round. Often projects will be funded by a whole range of sources rather than just one big one so it’s very important to define your priorities first.