They thrive on ideas

Brilliant Bid Writing

Let’s get started!

Housekeeping

Introductions

Aims

Your Aims?

There are over 8,500 in the U.K

CAF / European Foundations Centre 2006 Research Task Force

Top 15

Next 485

£1.6 Billion

£1.6 Billion

They exist to give ….

Many operate on a skeleton staff

They thrive on ideas

They don’t like dependency

How do you score? Are you strategically well positioned?

A three strand strategy

Is it getting harder …?

Shorter commitments. Less risk

Narrower focus. No new organisations

Fewer programmes

More proactive partnering

More pressure, slimmer chances

More bang for their buck

More consultation, more user control

Spend down

Moratorium

“Due to an unprecedented number of applications for funding over recent months, caused by the economic downturn, the trustees have decided to close the fund to new applications for the next few months until the current backlog has been attended to”.

These things, we can do something about …

• Consultation and User Control

• Developing exemplar projects, perhaps in partnership, to address root causes and/or change policy

• Long term forward planning to target a specific trust fund

So what does this mean for you?

• Longer planning/consultation timeline• More flexibility• Better measuring, monitoring and evaluation

systems• Greater creativity and innovation• See them as part of a portfolio of funding

options, rather than as your critical funders• Better marketing, branding and positioning

The future will be increasingly about using your knowledge, skills and experience to find

new and interesting solutions to the problems faced by your

beneficiaries. It will not be about funding your services

Finding the money - research

What we’ll cover

• What data do you need?• 5 Step research process• Prioritising your prospects

What should your research show ?…

What your research should unearth …

• Name of correspondent

• Address

• Preferred Beneficiaries

• Trustees (names)

• Policy and track record

• Size of grant

• Beneficial area

• Procedures (write to correspondent, fill in form etc.)

How trusts in the North East are linked by shared trustees

Tyneside Trust

Joicey Trust

Carr-Ellison

Tyne and Wear Foundation

Hadrian Trust

Millfield House

Brough Charitable Trust

Willan Trust

How trusts in the North East are linked by shared trustees (2)

ManningTrust

St. Hilda’s Trust

William Leech Charity

RothleyTrust

John Bell’s Trust

ContinuationTrust

5 Research Steps

Audit past supporters

Consult published research

Use espionage

Check references

Cluster into A/B/C segments

Audit• List current funders

• List as ‘A’, ‘B’, or ‘C’

• Who could be moved up a bracket?

• Go back 3 years

• Go back 5 years

• Who has fallen away?

DSC Publications

                                                                                                                                                        

£75.00

£75.00

Espionage – unearth …

• All charities in your local area

• All similar charities in your region

• All national charities dealing with your issue or client group

• Get their annual reports!

How old?

Socio – economic group?

Gender?

Geographical location?

Racial group?

Trustee Profile?

From Red To Green …

Take account of the pressure

Try to be interesting

Allow for misunderstanding

Write to the MBA

Charitable Trust

They need to buy into the business case, but

they also need to CARE!

Building blocks of an effective proposal

“… the worst (proposals) are hernia inducing slabs of desktop publishing literature, press cuttings, pamphlets, booklets and endorsements that no one honestly has the time to read”

Wates Foundation Annual Report

2001/2

Proposal Structure

Summary

Establish your credentials

What’s wrong?

What will you accomplish?

What will you do?

The Budget

Evaluation

1

6

2

5

3

4

7

Summarise

The Essentials

“ I had six honest serving men.

They taught me all I knew.

Their names where How, and Why and When and What and Where and Who.”

Kipling

USP’s

Toyota Prius

Porsche 911Smart

Honda

USP’s

Service

AchievementsCulture

People

The magic

formula?

What’s wrong?

eople

itched

recise

assionate

Effective Need (or Problem) Statements …

… are about the people you help, not the project you run

Performance Measuring Model

Inputs

Process

Outputs

Outcomes

The resources put into the organisation

How the organisation uses these resources

What the organisation does

The impact or effect of what the organisation has done

The Lack of an Input

‘The Poortown estate needs a community centre because we have nowhere to run education sessions, confidence building workshops, cooperative development activities and a job club’.

The Lack of an Outcome

‘On the Poortown estate unemployment, poverty and crime rates are very high. The drug problem is increasing as young people feel increasingly alienated and have little chance of a job. We have nowhere to run the range of activities that could help improve the quality of life for local people, give them a route out of poverty and create real opportunity for the youngsters.’

Pitched

How ‘poor nutrition’ can be sold to a variety of funder's

For a funder interested in the welfare of children

Poorly nourished children suffer from increased vulnerability to fatigue, headaches, irritability, inability to concentrate and frequent colds. Iron-deficiency anaemia in children can lead to developmental and behavioural disturbances. Hungry children are less likely to interact with other people or explore or learn from their surroundings.

For a funder interested in education

Poor nutrition has a negative impact on children’s ability to learn in school. School-aged children who are hungry cannot concentrate or do as well as others on the tasks they need to perform to learn the basics. Research indicates that low-income children who participate in School Breakfast Programmes show an improvement in test scores and a decrease in lateness and absenteeism compared to other students who do not eat breakfast.

For a funder interested in the welfare of the elderly

Malnutrition caused by poor eating habits can exacerbate chronic and acute diseases and speed the onset of degenerative diseases among the elderly. This not only leads to an unnecessary decrease in the quality of life for many older people, but also increases the cost of health care. National data for people aged 65 to 75 show that a majority are not consuming even two-thirds of the nutrients they need to stay healthy.

For a funder interested in mental health issues

Hunger, and insecurity about whether a family will be able to obtain enough food to avoid hunger, also have an emotional impact on children and their parents. Anxiety, negative feelings about self-worth, and hostility towards the outside world can result from chronic hunger and food insecurity.

Precise

Make it Precise

Compare the following statements:

Consumer credit is at an all time high in the UK

AND:

Between us we owe credit and mortgage companies £1 trillion!

Make it Concrete

Compare the following statements:

Many of the teenagers suffer from social problems. Poverty and drugs use are rising.

AND:

Unemployment amongst 16-25 year olds currently stands at over 80%. These young people have 3 times as much chance of sampling hard drugs before they leave school than those in other areas of Tyneside, such as Heaton, Jesmond or Gosforth. Heroin use has doubled in the last five years. Last month another family lost their 15 year old child to a heroin overdose.

Make it Tangible

Compare:

We now make more telephone calls than ever before.

AND:

In the last 24 hours, more phone calls were made in the UK than during the whole of 1983.

Passionate!

Answer this question …

So what?

Three Stages to Understanding

Clarify the need

Demonstrate the results

Describe the tools

1

2

3

Bridge the comprehension gap

We can make some young people more employable by building their self esteem, team skills and confidenceThe problem is youth

unemploymentWe do this by organising rock climbing sessions

The problem

On the Poortown estate unemployment, poverty and crime rates are very high. The drug problem is increasing as young people feel increasingly alienated and have little chance of a job.

The Outcome

We want to run a range of activities that could help improve the quality of life for local people, give them a route out of poverty and create real opportunity for the youngsters.’

Our method ….

With a new community centre we could achieve this by running education sessions, confidence building workshops, cooperative development activities and a job club.

Budget

They need to buy into the business case, but

they also need to CARE!

The Budget