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Our last two fundraising articles have focused on an introduction to developing your fundraising strategy and identifying need and appealing to donors.
This article will focus on researching and identifying those funders who will be interested and willing to help your beneficiaries.
One of the foremost rules to remember when researching potential funders is that funders do not fund you or your organisation – they fund people. Funders are interested in funding the people you are helping, i.e. your beneficiaries.
Finding the right funder matters as it saves you time – you will be writing an application you know has a chance of success.
Local funders – Local money is the easiest to obtain. Your local volunteer centre will have the details of local parochial charities which means they will give to the ‘parish’ area or their funds are limited to a defined local area. These local funds work to your advantage because those funders will be interested in you as your are helping the local community. They often have short/easy application forms and a quick turnaround.
Summer fairs and markets can also offer opportunities to raise your profile in the community. Local borough councillors have funding administrated by the local community engagement officer. Surrey County Council have a members allocation of £5,000 to spend on local projects over the year. Your councillor can be found on the Surrey County Council website. Funding can also be provided by the Police and Crime Commissioner and High Sheriff of Surrey but their criteria on what they will fund depends on who is in post so it’s important to check their website. It does tend to be centred on crime reduction and prevention of offending and reoffending.
Housing associations can also provide funding to benefit their residents but sometimes for the wider community too. Finally, there are some community foundations. If you have clients in neighbouring counties, make sure you apply to their community foundations too. Talk to your local rotary or lions club.
Large corporates – Supermarkets (Waitrose, Coop, Asda, Morrisons and Sainsburys) all have some kinds of community funding available. Make friends with their community engagement lead. Take a walk down the high street with a piece of paper and write down all the shop/bank names and google them with the words ‘foundation’, ‘trust’ or ‘community fund’ – many of them will have funding to give.
National funders – Make an appointment with your local volunteer centre to talk about funding and searching for grants. Here at Voluntary Support, we have a number of databases we can draw upon to help you find the right funder.
Unpopular funders – When a local business is doing something unpopular such as making a noise/smell/inconvenience, they will offer funding. For example, Gatwick and Heathrow have funds for organisations that fall within flight paths. Landfill companies offer funding to projects in their locality – WREN, Veolia, Biffa, Suez etc. Use the postcode checker on their websites.
Out of the Box – Think of the project type and try to match with someone who can fund you. For example, if you’re a local park/garden in need of iron gates, you could approach a guild of ironmongers in London who funds such a thing.
Funders’ grant information will tell you what they fund. Some donors are very helpful and have guidelines that they publish online. You can also go to the Charity Commission website and find out how much money they have and who they gave it to.
You must find out as much as possible about your potential funder. Funders estimate that between 50% and 60% of all applications are turned down because they don’t meet the guidelines.
Priorities/criteria – Make sure the guidance you’re looking at is up-to-date. Donors often change their criteria from year to year. They also have specific criteria so make sure to use their words in your application to show them that you have read their priorities. You can use a highlighter to pick out their words and then pepper them throughout your application.
Restrictions – Make a particular note of what funders will NOT fund. If your project or your organisation is on the restrictions list, then do not make an application. A common complaint from funders is applications for work they clearly do not fund.
What have they funded before? – Use their website as they may have a list of previous award winners. Use the Charity Commission website to look up the funder and see what they have funded previously.
Grant range – Funders often tell you the range of their grants and the maximum amount they will provide. If they tell you that their grants are typically large, then don’t apply for £500.
Deadline – It may be that you don’t have enough time to put together an amazing application. If that’s the case, then wait for the next one. If you make a poor attempt at applying for funding which is missing documentation and a clear budget and plan, it will be unsuccessful. This may be your perfect funder and they may have a restriction on making another application for 12 months or more. Make your application the best it can be – plan, take your time, gather your documentation and submit in a timely manner. Many funders have quarterly or biannual deadlines so you will be able to take time to work on the application.
‘New’ project – You may be running a small project already so it may not be new – call it a ‘pilot’.
Questions – It is strongly recommended to make contact with the funder that you have identified for your project. Call them and ask questions, even if you know the answer. Create a relationship and rapport with the administrator. Don’t call if the deadline is imminent, however as they won’t have time.
Funders will usually tell you how they expect you to apply. Applications are also becoming increasingly digital. If this is the case, please don’t leave the application until the deadline date. You don’t want a technical problem to stop you from applying. Answer the questions and write your application in Word and then copy and paste into the application. That way, if something does go wrong, you’ll still have all your thoughts and information saved.
Can you make connections? – Can you find a link between yourself and a funder? For example, a volunteer that works for them, a geographical link, product link, a contact at your local rotary or lions club (did you know, rotary or lion clubs will make a contribution to your organisation if you give a talk – don’t forget to tell any audience that your organisation needs funds and how they can make a donation).
Do you have time? – If you meet the criteria and have a good project worth funding, take your time and get the application right. It’s worth remembering that funding applications take six months so you need to be prepared – this is where your funding plan will help you stay on track and organised. Use Word to write your answers, there’s a word count which is useful and if the online application crashes you will have a record of your thoughts.
Do you have a track record? – For a funder to want to fund you, it will want to trust that your organisation is professional, organised and you have the ability to deliver. You can show this by:
Remember – there is a real person reading your application. They want to know who their money will help. Just like someone making a donation – they want to know what their money will be spent on.
Funders fund beneficiaries, not organisations. It’s important you stress all your answers in terms of the community you serve.
If you have found these articles helpful, we regularly run a training session on Grants and Trusts Fundraising Applications. Be sure to keep an eye on our events page so you don’t miss out on the next session.
You can also sign up to our monthly fundraising newsletter. This newsletter contains fundraising news, information, resources, event details and the latest funds for you to explore. To sign up to any of our newsletters, you can click here.
Finally, you can request one-to-one support and we’d be more than happy to help. Simply give us a call on 01932 571122.
Find out about local volunteering opportunities and keep up to date with local events & fundraising news by subscribing to one of our bulletins.