Richmond upon Thames

Council for Voluntary Service

Funding information

Welcome to our list of Fundraising services, links and information!

Contents:

• Need Help With Fundraising?
• Need to Find a Funder?
• Grant Directories
• What's in the Library?
• Funding e-News
• Training Opportunities 2007/08
• Meet the Funder Workshops 2007/8
• Further Queries?
• Other Services

Need Help with Fundraising ?

Although RCVS doesn't currently have a funding adviser to help you in person, there are some really excellent resources on the web that will help you find funding for your organisation from a variety of different sources:

• Individuals and businesses – donations and sponsorship
• Trust funds – over 3,000 grant makers in England and Wales
• Government money – via grants and contracts
• Trading – selling services etc
• Tax – claiming tax back on donations
• Need helo

Here are our top 7 funding websites .   We've chosen these as being particularly good for publications and/or a great source of additional links:

1. Funderfinder
As well as producing the grant search program “Groups in Need” (see below) Funderfinder have some great free downloads on their site.

Apply Yourselves is a program that helps you write a funding application from scratch – there are plenty of useful hints and tips in the help files which are well worth a read.

Budget Yourselves is a companion program that helps you assemble a budget from scratch and includes useful checklists, information and links which help ensure you don't forget anything.

As well as these two programs, there's a very good glossary of terms called “Jargon explained” and a list of general fundraising leaflets for organisations .

2. RCVS factsheets
On our own website, we have a selection of factsheets developed for Richmond CVS by an experienced Funding Adviser, covering:

• Writing Funding Applications
• Fundraising, Management and Governance
• Writing a Budget for an Application
• Researching Funding Sources
• How to Provide Evidence of Need
• Keeping up to Date

Sheet 4 “Researching Funding Sources” includes lots of good links to information on sources other than grants. Click to view this funding resource.

3. Fit4Funding
Their “Publications” page offers excellent coverage of most aspects of fundraising – preparation, different sources of funding , making applications, spending the money, and what to do when funding comes to an end, as well as a wide range of additional links.

4. Finance Hub
This site has a section called “Funding Fundamentals” plus a “Guide to Fundraising” including plenty of tools, tips and information. There are also good downloadable documents on “Commissioning & Procurement ”, “ Trading ” and “ Loans ”.Look in both the section for groups and the section for advisers to find all kinds of helpful material.

5. Institute of Fundraising - Fundraisers' page
Plenty of useful information and links from tax effective giving to model contracts . A real goldmine of good material.

6. Access Funds
A good place to find out what's new in funding – the latest initiatives and updates. Although the main services are subscription only, the front page updates are all free.

7. Funding Central
For an excellent free funding search and information resource.

Need to Find a Funder?
Richmond CVS offers free access to the program ‘Groups in Need' (often known as ‘Funderfinder' after the organisation that produces it).

Funderfinder is a database of all the grant making trusts in England and Wales.  

The program asks some simple questions about your organisation, what you do, where you're based and how much money you want, and based on what you tell it, it picks out the best match funders for you to apply to.

You can use Funderfinder on either of our two ICT hub computers at our Princes Street offices. We are now running the latest version 4 with automatic updates.

If you haven't used Funderfinder before , you will need to book a short tutorial with one of our advisers to show you how to use it. 

Call Simon Croft on 020 8255 8195 or e-mail him at simonc@richmondcvs.org.uk to arrange one. If Simon is unavailable, please contact Heather Mathew on 020 8255 8191 / heatherm@richmondcvs.org.uk.
If you already know how to use Funderfinder, you simply need to book a session on one of the computers by calling Reception on 020 8255 8500.

Don't worry if it's a while since you used it - instruction booklets which cover everything from logging on to mailing your search results home are available behind reception.

Grant Directories
Richmond CVS has a selection of the major grant directories for use with the Funderfinder program or separately including:

• Directory of Grant Making Trusts

• A Guide to the Major Trusts Vol 1 & Vol 2

• A Guide to Local Trusts in Greater London

• The Guide to UK Company Giving

• Local Funders

Don't forget we have local funders in Richmond! Why not visit their web sites:
Richmond Parish Lands Charity
Barnes Workhouse Fund
Hampton Fuel Allotments
Thames Community Foundation

What's in the Library?
The Richmond CVS reference library has plenty of books on funding and fundraising.

You are welcome to visit in normal office hours to browse, read and copy any key pages you want to take home. (Please note this is subject to copyright restrictions and a small photocopying charge).

A selection of current titles includes:

• The Complete Fundraising Handbook (4 th edition)

• Find the Funds (how to research funds)

• Writing Better Fundraising Applications

• Funding Formula*

• Fundraising and Trustees – Essential Guide*Organising Local Events

• Tried and Tested Ideas for Raising Money Locally

• Looking After Your Donors

* simple, short workbook format guides

Training Opportunities 
Here is a selection of current learning opportunities:

Directory of Social Change 

DSC run a wide selection of fundraising courses which are usually repeated throughout the year. “Fundraising 1” is a good one to start with, but there are courses for all levels and areas of interest. Download the full brochure to browse.

London Voluntary Service Council (LVSC)  

LVSC offer a selection of introductory and developmental courses in fundraising under their “Short Courses” program.

Fundraising Skills 

Fundraising Skills offer an accredited on-line course in “Grants Training” aimed at getting novice fundraisers up to speed at raising money via grants. It's not the cheapest course, but worth a look, especially if an on-line course is what you need.

Other Services

Click here to go to the main Performance Improvement Team page for help on:

• Starting up
• Looking after the finances
• Organisational healthcheck and review
• Planning for the future
• Governance (anything to do with the work of the trustees or committee)
• Monitoring and evaluating your work
• Quality and quality systems

and much more!

Please note: Services available only to voluntary and community organisations working for the benefit of the community in Richmond on Thames and surrounding areas.

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