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Funding strategies

Sustainable Funding Project is a first-stop shop helping voluntary organisations explore a full range of funding options to develop a sustainable funding mix. It is part of NCVO. It promotes thorough organisational planning, grant diversification and income generation as 3 key means of enhancing organisational financial stability.

Fit for Funding, from the Charities Information Bureau, provides advice via the web for community groups and voluntary organisations who are seeking funding.

Funders with useful web sites

• BT Community Connections is a UK wide awards scheme to e-enable local community projects. Awards of internet ready computers are made to individuals or groups who wish to make a positive impact in their community. There is an online application form.

• The Community Foundation Network promotes local 'endowment funds' made by pooling donations that will generate ongoing income, for local grant-making. In 2006, these local community foundations made grants worth over £70 million.

• Esmée Fairbairn Charitable Trust Makes grants in five sectors: arts & heritage, education, environment, social & economic research, social welfare.

• Lloyds TSB Foundations Application form can be downloaded from the website, which also has application guidelines. Also see Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland; Lloyds TSB Foundation for NI.

• Voluntary Action Fund, an independent grant making trust, gives grants to, and work with, local voluntary organisations in Scotland.

Governmental/agency

• DCMS Funding for the arts page.
  
  
• Government Funding, managed by Directory of Social Change, provides details of grants available from government departments and other official sources.
  
  
• Also see Funding Central, the government supported info site managed by NCVO.
  
  
• RDFunding connected with Department of Health, for health-related research funding.
  
  
• Welsh Assembly Government grants guide should be available via voluntary sector pages.
  
  
• Government Funding Database for Northern Ireland governmental grants.
  
  
• European Social Fund in England.

Lottery related

• Big Lottery Fund cCan be a good funding source for certain groups - main aim is "to help meet the needs of those at greatest disadvantage in society and to improve the quality of life in the community".
  
  
• Department of Culture, Media & Sport's Lottery site has info on the distributing bodies and an awards search facility.
  
  
• Other lottery money sites:
  • Arts Council of England.
  • Try UK Sport.
  • LotteryGoodCauses is an umbrella site for all the lottery funded grant schemes.

Also see

• Funding Central (new 2009) is intended as a central source of information on funding and finance for the voluntary sector. Funded by governemtn and manged by NCVO it is particularly strong on official funding.

• Directory of Social Change has various funding guides and other resources online and in print. See their governmentfunding site for instance.

• ACF (Association of Charitable Foundations) gives details of member sites - we try not to duplicate this.

• Open4Funding from j4b is working with local council web sites to provide facilities for charities and community groups to find relevant funding sources.

Online Grants

We haven't seen much development of tentative steps towards 'electronic grantmaking' which we mentioned some time ago. But check CyberGrants.Com - American of course, or Bell Atlantic Foundation (not got link info yet) who only accept online proposals.

Grants for Business plc (j4b), is developing online matching of companies wishing to distribute grants and charity grant-seekers.