Securing Finance
Securing finance is the process of obtaining the money needed to fund a development.
There are multiple paths that you can choose to embark on to secure finance and many of them seem confusing: loans, equity loan, grants, events, sponsorship, corporate sponsorship, income generation, legacy fundraising and community shares. You may ask, which one and how? You don’t have to select only one method, and often the most sustainable projects have a mixed receipt income source. So, what’s next? It is worth investing time into creating a Fundraising Strategy.
What is a fundraising strategy?
A fundraising strategy is a document, which sets out how you intend to fund your project/work. It should complement your business plan and enable you to reach your stated goals. It should not be designed to be fixed or rigid, but should give you focus and purpose as to how to raise funds and to set out a plan. It should not deter you from applying for funding from sources not identified in the plan. Often, opportune grants yield success, but it is designed to provide you with a focus on the methods and main sources of finance you wish to raise.
What does a fundraising strategy contain and can I get help?
A fundraising strategy should have goals set over a period of time (normally 3-5 years). It may have a focus on your organisations needs split between short-term, medium-term and long-term.
It should cover your organisations aims and objectives, include financial forecasts over the period and identify gaps (if there are any).
There are online free guidance documents and templates that you can use to begin writing your strategy and here are some of the links:
http://www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/sfp/funding?id=2244 provides guidance about what could be contained within a fundraising strategy
http://www.knowhownonprofit.org/funding/fibasics provides a list of different methods of fundraising that you could consider and pointers about where to be begin.
http://www.vawcvs.org/modules/edito/content.php?id=24 provides a basic template to get you started.
Once you have created your strategy it is good to obtain feedback (from the Trustees or Directors) – remember it is vital that your strategy contains who will do what and when and this is agreed.
Remember that it should be regularly reviewed and updated. It is a living document, which should be designed to adapt and flow and match your organisations needs.
Raising finance is always an ongoing process. It is ideal if you have experienced people who can be dedicated to do this, but in reality sales and income are everyone’s responsibility from the Directors and Trustees to the Management and Staff. Everyone is a sales person and it could be the person that you are stood next to in a lift who holds the purse strings.
Finance strategies can be 2 pages or 20: the key element is that it has to work for you. The idea is that it is a concise document that aids you to make your project happen, not to bog you down with more documents to create or a document that just gets shelved.
http://www.financehub.org.uk/default.aspa The Finance Hub, though now have closed down, have a wealth of advice on their website.
http://www.businesslink.gov.uk Offer free advice to small and medium businesses. This is a free service which can be accessed online or in person.
http://www.bgateway.com Business Gateway have different sources of help and advice on their website from business start up, raising finance to tax and employment issues.