Fund Raising
Last Updated on Sunday, 14 March 2010 08:33 Written by Chris Brewster Monday, 01 February 2010 14:15
Introduction
Gone are the days when we had to trawl through a ten ton book to locate charitable trusts who we could apply to for some cash. There are a few fantastic search engines available on line which are really helpful and fairly straight forward to use.
Start with working out the budget
The starting point for any fundraising project is to put together a clear budget which shows exactly what you need and how much it costs and where you intent buying in the equipment or services. A lot of funders will ask you to provide evidence to show that you have done your research so it is best to make that your starting point.
Clear outcomes and community benefit
It may seem obvious but its best said now, charities, local authorities won’t give money away unless you prove you need it and in more cases than not can clearly show community benefit. So many Groups apply for funding when they already have a fair amount of money in the bank. If these are saving ‘ring fenced’ for a specific project than that is normally acceptable. However if the saving are general ‘rainy day’ funds then the chances are that the Group would be expected to use those funds first and then apply for grant aid if it’s needed.
Understanding the language
With most funding applications you have to make your project fit the criteria of the grant giver. The language they use often doesn’t appear to fit with the language that we use in Scouting and this is where your District Development Officer can help. Chris is fairly fluent in fund raising speak and offers a free translation service on request.
Local resources to help you get started
Cheltenham Borough Council help to make looking for funding easier by giving community groups free access to a really useful search engine for fund raising, called Grantnet. All you need to do is follow the link below and register to start searching.
http://www.grantnet.org.uk/grantnet3/index.aspx?p=home&lfs=1
Cheltenham Voluntary and Community Action will also do searches using ‘Funderfinder’ for Groups, give them a call to find out how to use this service.
Guidestar funding search
http://www.guidestar.org.uk/Default.aspx
this website is excellent, once you have worked out how to use it. Start by going to the advanced search option, you can then drill down to some national as well as very local charities which may fund your project.
Gloucestershire Community Foundation
It really is worth taking a look at this website http://www.gloucestershirecommunityfoundation.co.uk/pages/home.htm
the foundation provides access to a number of grant aid programmes which may fund your project.
Gloucestershire Community Foundation is a Gloucestershire based charity, which raises money in the County, manages those funds for investment and distributes the interest to other charitable causes in the county. The Gloucestershire Foundation is one of 64 members and associates of Community Foundations in the UK.
Summerfield Charitable Trust
An excellent local Charity with a criteria which may fit your project. Their website is very helpful - http://www.summerfield.org.uk/index.html
The Leslie Sell Charity
A wonderful charity with a long history of support for Scouting and Guiding.
http://www.lesliesellct.org.uk/contact.html
The Henry Smith Charity
This charity has strong links with Gloucestershire and funds projects for young people.
http://www.henrysmithcharity.org.uk/index.html
National Lottery Awards for All England
This fund is surprising little used by local Scout Groups. It is so easy to apply to and if you stick to the criteria your chance of success is very good. They take applications for grants of between £300 and £10000 and just about everything we do in Scouting will be covered by their objectives. The application form is available to download and can be filled in on screen. Chris Brewster has filled in many successful applications to this scheme and will be happy to advise on your application.
http://www.awardsforall.org.uk/england/index.html
Gloucester County Council Published News Letter about Funding
See attached files below
 GCC Funding Opportunities Buttetin.pdf | [ ] | 682 Kb | 0 Downloads | 14/03/10 08:30 |