Top Tips on Funding Bids

Maximizing your organisation’s chances

What is fundraising?

• In simple terms, fundraising is about selling an idea to someone who has the means to help you make it happen.

What does fundraising involve?

I. Analysing your position Begin by answering as honestly as possible some questions about the nature of the work which you are

seeking to fund.1. What is the need that your work is addressing? Is it an on-

going social need or is it occasional, seasonal or one-off?2. Who are the beneficiaries of your work? 3. What difference does your work make? (What would

happen if you didn’t do what you do?)

What does fundraising involve?

I. Analysing your position4. Who else is doing similar work? What is their relationship

with you? e.g. friend, ally, competitor?5. What is unique or distinctive about your approach to the

work?6. How are the needs of your beneficiaries expected to

change and/or increase over the next few years? How will you respond to these changes? - What are your medium term plans?

What does fundraising involve?

II. Analysing your environment (SWOT & PEST) For an effective fundraising strategy we must understand

the environment in which we will be undertaking our fundraising

It works well when you involve a small group of people who know your organisation well to carry this exercise to share a whole range of ideas and viewpoints

What does fundraising involve?

II. Analysing your environment (SWOT & PEST) There are a number of tools that are used to analyse

the environment such as the SWOT analysis SWOT analysis involves identifying the: - Strengths - Weaknesses - Opportunities and - Threats facing your organisation

What does fundraising involve?

II. Analysing your environment (SWOT & PEST) Strengths Internal to your organisation Weaknesses Things that you know to be true. Give you an advantage or hold you back

Opportunities External to your organisation Threats How the external world will impact on your work and funding opportunities now and in the future

What does fundraising involve?

II. Analysing your environment (SWOT & PEST) To explore external factors in detail the PEST analysis (also

known as STEP) is used It is used to look at the trends in society which are going to

affect you’re your fundraising PEST /STEP stands for: - Political - Economical - Social - Technological

What does fundraising involve?

II. Analysing your environment (SWOT & PEST) Political factors: Questions to ask to help analyse political factors What new policy initiatives are being

developed/proposed? How are these going to affect us? Are there changes in legislation that are going to impact

on our work? What changes are happening in government

programmes, funding and/or tax that are likely to affect us?

What does fundraising involve?

II. Analysing your environment (SWOT & PEST) Political factors: Questions to ask to help analyse political factors What capacity do we have to influence policy and the

political decision making process? Can we develop the capacity? Do we have access to, or the support of, key politicians?

What does fundraising involve?

II. Analysing your environment (SWOT & PEST) Economic factors: Questions to ask to help analyse economic factors What is the economic outlook like in the immediate

future? Are the interest rates about to go up? Is inflation high? Are wages being kept low?

What are the economy’s longer-term prospects? Is a recession on the horizon?

What does fundraising involve?

II. Analysing your environment (SWOT & PEST) Economic factors: Questions to ask to help analyse economic factors In what ways will the above affect the organisation’s

ability to secure adequate funding? How will they affect demand for our services?

What does fundraising involve?

II. Analysing your environment (SWOT & PEST) Social factors: Include changes in people’s values and attitudes, changes

in people’s lifestyles and demographic changes (e.g. Changes in size, distribution, age of the population etc..)

Questions to ask to help analyse social factors: What are the dominant attitudes towards our cause?Is it

a popular cause or is it unpopular? Do different groups in society feel differently towards our

cause?

What does fundraising involve?

II. Analysing your environment (SWOT & PEST) Social factors: Questions to ask to help analyse social factors: What are the dominant attitudes towards our cause?

Is it a popular cause or is it unpopular? Are these attitudes changing? Is there a trend? Are

these changes positive or negative? How are demographic changes likely to affect our

cause, work and/or activities?

What does fundraising involve?

II. Analysing your environment (SWOT & PEST) Technological factors: include changing technology which can help us work

more effectively as well as access to technology which can reduce the need for our services.

Questions to ask to help analyse social factors: What technology do we use at the moment to help

us attract funding? How is it changing?

What does fundraising involve?

II. Analysing your environment (SWOT & PEST) Technological factors: Questions to ask to help analyse social factors: What technology do we rely on to provide services to

our user/clients? Is this available to them elsewhere/cheaper/more conveniently located?

Are there other new technologies that we could usefully exploit?

What does fundraising involve?

An example of a SWOT analysis for a small organisation.

Internal Factors

STRENGTHS• Established team• Experienced management• Good reputation

WEAKNESSES• Limited number of funders• Existing grants running out• No evaluation undertaken

External Factors

OPPORTUNITIES• Good relations with local authority• New funding sources coming up• Acquisition of new computer system & software

THREATS• Change in benefit regulations• Local agency expanding services to cover the same area• Changing policy priorities

What does fundraising involve?

2. Fundraising StrategyWhat is a fundraising strategy? Plan that sets out how your organisation will access funds

to carry out its work. Integral to organisation’s infrastructure It’s a 1- 3 years or 1-5 years srategyWhat is in a fundraising strategy? Your org. must show where you are at and what your

current sources of funds are.

What does fundraising involve?What is in a fundraising strategy?1. Aims: What does your group want to do?2. Partnerships/ target groups: Who will your group do it with/to?3. Need: Why does your group need to do it? User participation4. Time: When and within what time scale5. Budget: How much will it cost?6. Source of funding: Where will funds come from? PS: Can hold

events, concerts, jumble sales. Can apply to trusts and government bodies Identify all possible sources

What does fundraising involve?What is in a fundraising strategy?7. Barriers: Is there anything internal or external that may

hinder you from fundraising effectively?8. Human Resources: Who will be responsible for fundraising?9. Other Resources: e.g. access to information on funding

environment/culture, networking and promotion of your organisation and it’s work, actual implementation of strategy

10. Monitoring and Evaluation: How will you record and assess your impact?

11. Exit strategy: What will happen when the grant ends?

What does fundraising involve?Why a fundraising strategy? Planned approach has more chance of success than an ad-

hoc approach Continuity of fundraising where there is a staff turnover Projection into long term funding needs of organisation Avoids panic completion of funding applications

What does fundraising involve?3. Project Plan Must have a beginning, a middle and an end and is

designed to meet a specific objective Must have SMART targets Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic Time-lined

What does fundraising involve?

What does fundraising involve?3. Project Plan Clear aims for funders to understand exactly what you are

intending to do Against each aims indicators must be set to measure

success and failure The organisation should have the capacity to achieve

targets of the project. For ex: a project aiming to deliver in-house training for 250 women a year should have people with the right skills to deliver the training.

What does fundraising involve?3. Project Plan2. The project should be realistic. For example, a project which

aims to deliver in-house training for 250 women a year will not succeed if it is proposed to take place in a society where women do not typically work outside their homes.

3. Time-line must be prepared showing critical milestones.Please note: Project must be important to organisation and need it will

meet.

What does fundraising involve?Please note: The work should be good-value/use for/of the donor’s

money. The project should be topical looking at current issues and

concerns. The project should meet the donor’s criteria for funding.

What do Funders want to know? Who are you? What need do you intend to meet? How do you know the need exists? How will you meet it? How are users involved in the project? Have you put a cost to your project?(VAT included) Do you have skilled management and adequate staff? Do you have necessary policies and procedures? How will you monitor? Do you have an exit strategy?