2.4 Fundraising and income generation
There are many different ways to fundraise and many different
sources of funds. The choice of which methods to use depends
on the range of acceptable potential donors (funders) in the
area and upon the time and resources available to devote to
fundraising.
2.4.1 Generating funds
It is important to identify the financial resources that the
resource centre can generate itself. These might include:
- membership fees or fees for using the resource centre
- payment for services provided - such as photocopying or
literature searches
- sales of information packs or publications
- acting as consultants to train or advise others.
There may also be a community of users who are prepared to
make a voluntary contribution to the work of the resource centre,
or it may be possible to raise funds by general appeals to the
community members.
Contributions from local individuals or organisations could
be in forms other than money. For example, people may be willing
to volunteer a certain amount of time to help with basic tasks
at the resource centre, or to provide a specific technical or
professional skill, such as accounting, computing skills, marketing,
designing, writing or painting. Businesses in the community
might be prepared to provide staff on loan for a period of time
to help with particular work, or they might pay for the cost
of developing promotional material about the resource centre.
They might also have useful materials that they would be willing
to donate or lend to the resource centre.
2.4.2 Applying for grants
Another source of funds may be grants from institutions or organisations
that have money to finance development, charitable or educational
activities.
Most funding organisations have specific requirements or conditions
for granting money. Some only give money for certain types of
activities, such as education, training or research. Some only
give money for certain groups of beneficiaries, such as children,
poor people or elderly people. Some only give money for certain
locations, such as urban areas, rural areas, developing countries
or a specific continent or region. Some only give money for
work focusing on a certain topic or sector, such as HIV/AIDS,
environment, education or communicable diseases.
2.4.3 How to find out about funders
If you are starting out and don’t know any donor agencies
(funding organisations), start by making a list. To do this:
- Write to or visit government departments in your country,
asking whether they have any funds available for your sort
of work.
- Write to or visit embassies in your country, asking for
a list of donor agencies in their country.
- Write to or visit the offices of international organisations,
such as United Nations agencies, the Organization of Economic
Cooperation and Development and the European Union, asking
how to approach them for funding.
- Approach local churches or other religious organisations
and ask for the names and addresses of their international
donors.
- Ask other organisations for names and addresses of donors.
- Ask colleagues and friends.
- Look up donor agencies in your local library, British Council
library or other library.
Write to all the donor agencies you can, asking them for their
funding criteria and areas of interest. Type the letter on headed
paper, explaining who you are and what kind of work you do.
Send them a leaflet about your organisation if there is one.
2.4.4 How to apply for grants
Wherever possible, try to have personal contact with the donor
agency. Ask for guidelines for presenting proposals (funding
applications) and ask what criteria they use to make decisions,
what areas of interest they have, and when and how often they
give funds. Some donors will accept funding applications at
any time. Some have specific procedures and times for considering
funding applications.
Try to talk to someone within the donor agency before finalising
any funding applications. You may want to visit the organisation,
or ask someone from the funding organisation to visit your resource
centre to see the type of work you do.
Once you have identified possible donors, you need to develop
a clear funding proposal. The resource centre officer could
be responsible for preparing a proposal, in consultation with
his or her supervisor or a member of the resource centre advisory
committee. The committee might want to discuss the proposal,
or other staff in the organisation might be involved in developing
and discussing the proposal.
The first time that you send a proposal to a particular donor,
it is helpful to include any leaflet that you may have about
your organisation, and reports about previous projects. Letters
of referral or testimonials about previous work can also be
useful. Also enclose your organisation’s latest annual
report and financial accounts, if they are available.
The way you present the information in the funding proposal
is important for convincing the donors that your project is
worth funding. Always follow the guidelines set out by a donor,
and answer any questions they set. Be precise and clear about
what you want to do, how much funding you require and how you
will use those funds.
Don’t use too many words. Briefly describe the problem
you are tackling and how you intend to tackle it.
When you have received funds, remember to say thank you. And
remember to keep in touch with the donors and let them know
how you are getting on with the project that they are supporting.
This may help with future funding.
2.4.5 How to prepare a funding proposal
Follow any guidelines provided by the donor agency. Keep your
proposal short and concise. Divide it clearly into sections.
If your organisation is already established, add other information
such as an annual report and audited accounts as an appendix.
But do not add unnecessary documents just to make the proposal
look longer. Funders prefer short project proposals.
You will need to include the following:
Title of the project
Make sure that the project has a name that clearly identifies
it.
Summary
This should be no more than one page. It should explain the
reason for the project, the aims and proposed activities, how
long the project is planned to take and the amount of money
needed.
Statement of the need
Explain why you want to do this project at this time
and why the need for it exists. If appropriate, include a brief
description of the geographical area, target group (the people
who will benefit from it) and reason for selecting this target
group.
Aims and objectives of the project
Explain what you hope to achieve (not how you hope to achieve
it - this comes next).
Strategy
Describe how you hope to achieve the aims and objectives - what
activities you will undertake, including monitoring and evaluation
(see below). Be clear about the order in which these activities
will be carried out, when each activity will start and how long
it will last, and where each activity will be carried out.
Organisational background
Briefly describe your organisation, its legal status, and the
people who will be working on the project. Explain why you are
qualified to do this project. Explain what work you have done
previously that has given you the right experience for the project.
Explain how this project fits with other activities of your
organisation.
Monitoring
Monitoring means checking how the project is developing, to
make sure that everything is happening as it should, that activities
are being carried out on time, and that, if anything goes wrong,
there is a system for informing those responsible and putting
it right quickly.
Evaluation
Evaluation means finding out whether your project has achieved
its aims. You must build evaluation plans into your overall
strategy. Explain what methods you will use to measure the results
of the project.
Budget
Make this as realistic as possible. Make sure that items in
the budget are consistent with your aims and strategy. Use headings
that reflect the way the project will be set up, but that are
easy to identify - for example: Salaries, Equipment, Stationery,
Communications, Rent, Travel.
next: Section 3. Space, furniture
and equipment
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