Writing a Winning Proposal Gerry Beldon FInstF

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Writing a Winning Proposal Gerry Beldon FInstF
www.26-01.com
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The Ground-Work

• What do you need?
• Revenue
• Capital
• Short or Long-Term
• Start-up
• Contract/Partnership
• Independent
• Community-based

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INDEPENDENT

• If it is important to be independent (advocacy,
  unpopularity, dissatisfaction with the norm)
• Trust funding for start-up
• Community support for ongoing
• Trading income
• Tainted money?

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What isFull Cost Recovery?

• A means of calculating the true cost of activity
• A tool to ensure Sustainability
• A route for positive engagement with partners

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What is it not?

• Dressing up bids
• Spinning, lying or distorting the facts
• Fiddling the books
• Core cost subsidy
• Smoke and mirrors

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Guiding Principles

• A desirable impact would be for full cost
  recovery to stop the use of the term core costs
  within the sector entirely. Both the concept and
  its application have been destructive. All costs
  within a well-run organisation are core in that
  they are necessary to produce the outputs and
  achieve the outcomes consistent with the
  organisations mission.
• (ACEVO Funding our Future II, 2002)

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Guiding Principles

• Calculate in detail all costs associated with a
  project
• Apportion appropriately
• Be realistic hyperbole litotes are equally
  reprehensible!
• Fit Bid to Project, not to Funder!

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Research the Need

• What is the Need?
• How do you know?
• Partnership potential
• Competition
• Appropriate Funding
• Trusts
• Contract
• Trading

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Trusts

• Interested in innovation
• Generally short-term (3 5 years)
• Generally publish criteria
• Can be quirky
• May give more than money

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Contracts

• An agreed income to provide specified work
• Agenda is set by the funder
• Can be used to support an organisation
• May be burdensome (Output monitoring)
• Diverse range of statutory sources

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Trading

• Sell services in units for a given price
• Sell surplus resources (time, space, skills)
• General trading as fundraising
• Selling donated goods
• Running lotteries
• Running fundraising events
• Buying selling (appropriate?) goods

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General Fundraising

• Community Fundraising
• Major Donors
• Individual Donors
• Regular Giving
• Gift aid
• Payroll
• Legacies
• Public Collections

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The Document

• The 30-second hook
• KISS
• Back to school
• Read and answer the question!
• Be concise
• Be neat
• Invite questions
• Invite a visit

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...And with that

• Annual Report Accounts
• Budget for the organisation
• Budget for the project
• Outline future plan
• Exit strategy
• Funding strategy
• Where can they get more?