Emma Pond
Fundraising
How To Maximise The Impact of Your Funding Bids
Ian McLintock Founder at Charity Excellence Framework Posted 5 years ago
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This article is from the Charity Excellence Framework. To access the full article, register here. It takes 2 mins and the online toolkit, its huge range of resources and quality mark are all completely free.
In submitting successful funding bids, quality is more effective than quantity. You’ll also want to be sure the bid isn’t underfunded, and that the risk of it going wrong is minimised.
Minimum Criteria
· Charitable Objectives. It must demonstrably support our charitable objectives.
· Due Diligence. We cannot enter into an agreement with any individual or organisation whose views or activities would conflict with our aims or values.
· Legality. The proposal complies with all relevant legal requirements and our policies.
· Risk. Consider whether the level of risk is acceptable.
Benefits
· Strategic and Business Objectives. The key consideration is assessing the value in terms of achieving our strategy and specific business plan objectives.
· Financial. Obviously, the amount, but also whether funding is restricted, or not, and potentially diversification of our income streams.
· Other Benefits. Does it enable us to better provide a mix of services, develop new skills/capabilities, share good practice, PR/media?
Costs
· Financial. Include all relevant costs. For example, events, reports, travel, staff costs and an overhead margin.
· Make Prudent Estimates. Where estimates are used, these should be prudent with the underlying assumptions made clear and justified.
· Multi Year. Separate initial purchasing/start-up costs, from ongoing costs.
· Non-Financial. Undertaking any project inevitably means that staff and management resources are committed and there is also a cost in terms of time in preparing and submitting a large bid/tender.
How Can I Improve My Bid?
· Communication. Ensure that the bid is concise, complies with any requirements, focusses on the deliverables/outcomes the funder wants and is expressed in their language.
· Leverage. How the project might be potentially useful in other areas.
· For example, in sharing learning, or for marketing or fundraising.
· We have also considered if it might generate external benefits. For example, the opportunity to share best practice with other organisations.
· Delivery. Could the work be delivered more effectively in another way, such as carrying out consultancy in-house, or using a freelancer?
· Contracting. Where work is contracted out, have we tendered for this, or at least asked for pitches from more than one provider, and have we negotiated to get the best deal?
· Value. Are there high cost and/or items that add limited value, which can be removed or scaled back.
To Bid or not to Bid?
· In all cases, the minimum criteria must be met, benefits must demonstrably outweigh the costs and any full cost funding shortfall will be met from some other source of funding.
· Only in exceptional cases should a bid be taken forward if the income will not cover all direct (cash) costs plus a reasonable margin for overheads and there are overriding non-financial benefits.
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