Fundraising is something that every group needs to consider.
It will affect your activities and projects going forward. Ensuring your group is sustainable is one of the biggest challenges that faces charities and community groups of all sizes. Establishing a sustainable fundraising plan or strategy is the key to building the future and resilience of your groups and therefore making that difference to the cause.
You need to consider who will do it, and how much time it will take. You want to avoid being in the situation when you are searching for a last minute grant.
When you start a group, you will need to consider how you will go about funding its activities. The key is building up your groups financial resilience which often means a variety of sources of income.
Some tips for you to consider when starting to look at your fundraising strategy:
- Your funding strategy needs to be in line with your charity’s aims and business plan.
- Make sure your project is not being run by another group.
- Talk to similar organisations to yourselves – what works for them is likely to work for you too.
Planning, quotes and research:
- Knowing how much money you will need will help mitigate problems in the long-run.
Some elements you might want to consider are:
- Running costs (utilities, rent, administration etc)
- Staff and volunteer training and expenses
- Running your activities.
Learn how to apply for grants funding:
- Community People run and signpost to free fundraising training courses, see our training page for current courses that are coming up.
There are many different types of fundraising:
- Grants – these come from organisations that give money to groups. Often known as funders they include local councils.
- Individual giving – This might be one or a number of one-off donations, regular giving or a gift in their Will or in memory of someone.
- Corporate partnerships – these take a long time to establish and can be a fantastic route for paying for your core and on-going costs.
- Events Fundraising – Buckets or QR codes, quiz nights, sponsorship events – the ideas are endless but should be aligned to your organisations values.
- Crowdfunding – Funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people who each contribute a relatively small amount.
- Online giving – there a variety of third party companies who offer an online platform, often these are only for registered charities as Gift Aid covers the cost.
- Traded income – social enterprises may ask for payment to cover costs of services.
Useful links:
*Important*
Make sure you step back and keep those you are supporting in your mind – this will help you reaching that goal!
If possible, get support and work as a team. It can become overwhelming securing funding especially when you come across barriers… sharing the load is key.
Speak to our Community Development Team if you need support with fundraising methods and up to date grants available.
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