During these difficult times NACCC is looking to secure funding from government and trusts to support centres. However, there is a lot of demand for funding in the current Covid 19 crisis and much of the government’s funding is targeted at emergency crisis support at this time. To support centres with ideas on how you can raise funds, we have put together a feature on Chiltern Child Contact Centre below and highlighted some opportunities and further information sources, which centres may wish to explore. 

We will continue to share potential funding opportunities for local centres to apply to and training resources to enable centres to raise funding independently.

Feature: Chiltern Child Contact Centre 

Bob Marshall with green supermarket charity token

Chiltern Child Contact Centre has been successfully raising funding for many years and Bob Marshall, from the centre, shares some ideas on how to raise funding at this difficult time. “Fundraising is a team effort, and everybody is part of that team. Our initial funding was as a result of a close relationship with local organisations such as housing association, churches, councillors, solicitors and charities. This gave us a lot of ‘pull’. 

We also ‘appointed’ a trustee whose job was to raise funds, search for grant giving trusts and manage a budget for fundraising. We emphasised the desire for a continuing relationship for a number of years with organisations, to help fundraising be more sustainable.

Current volunteers are a great source of information and support, volunteers are often members of other groups, gyms, choirs, bands, U3A, walking groups, bridge clubs and orchestras to name a few organisations who may provide funding.

Some of these clubs and groups may wish to adopt a charity for twelve months or be willing to put on a quiz night, a concert or some form of fundraising event. Chiltern Centre receive donations from these sources.”  Finally Bob said “we are looking forward and are planning to re-open again hopefully in a few weeks.”

Top tips: write to

  • Local Churches
  • Local Housing Association many of these have a social/community fund.
  • Local charities eg Rotary, Lions, Muffins, Round Table, Mothers union.
  • Councillors
  • Family law solicitors
  • Housing associations – many of these have a social/community fund.
  • Local U3A (University of the Third Age) – many will have a newsletter and an article/appeal may attract donors
  • Local legacy funds

Focus on developing long term relationships with local organisations who want to support your work, reach out to local organisations directly or through networking events to create these relationships. 

Chiltern Child Contact Centre, through this approach, has received grants from Chiltern District Council and Heart of Bucks.  Their Supporters include St Aidan’s Church, Amersham Free Church, Paradigm Housing Group, Cafcass, Amersham Town Council, Amersham Community Choir, Amersham Town Council, Misbourne Matins Rotary Club, Buckinghamshire County Council, Chiltern District Council, Monday Club, Amersham Mayor’s Fund, Old Town Methodist Church, IBB Charitable Trust, Davina Kirby and Co and Aviva Community Fund.

How to start the journey

Brain storming: everybody should think about fundraising and come up with ideas and options.

Develop an ‘elevator pitch’:  Bob suggests “if speaking to a group, have a prepared script or some notes and be imaginative. Do put some emotion and passion into it, it is a belief. Make sure the pitch has a hook”. Don’t forget the value Child Contact Centres provide in protecting the child’s interests and “maintaining the child-parent relationship beyond separation”.

Fundraising materials: use the pitch to develop fundraising materials such as emails and letters. When applying to local organisations try to be specific about what you want funds for, how much you need and the benefits it will provide and ensure the request is appropriate and addresses the organisations eligibility criteria. Requests could include insurance premium, training fees, colour photocopying/printing, toys and books. Offer to show the donor’s logo on your website and emails for their support of a local charity.

Identify funders: We have included some links below to potential national funding opportunities and fundraising resources. Ruth circulates a regular email on local opportunities from NCVO Funding Central, which we’d encourage centres to read. However, time will need to be spent in researching options and submitting bid applications and developing relationships.

Keep going: Raising funding for organisations is hard work and there may well be a few ‘nos’ before a business, trust or local charity offer to fund one of your requests. Keep going, stay persistent and remember tenacity wins the day

Summary

1.    Have a brain storming meeting – get everyone thinking about fundraising, who is in your network, what can you do, who you can approach and what opportunities are out there.

2.    Strategy – what do you need the funding for and how much will it cost?

3.    Create an elevator pitch – how do Child Contact Centres support the local community in keeping children in contact with their parents and grandparents?

4.    Don’t forget the ‘hook’ to start the pitch and capture everyone’s imagination!

5.    Create some materials for potential funders – PowerPoint slides help.

6.    Identify potential fundraisers – business, trusts and local organisations.

7.    Keep going! Stay persistent and remember tenacity wins the day

Fundraising opportunities

1.      Supermarkets

2.  National Lottery https://www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk/funding/under10k

3.  Local Police Property Act Fund

3.   Yapp Charitable Trust – small UK charities, grants up to £3k. https://yappcharitabletrust.org.uk/

4.   Neighbourly – micro-grants of up to £400, for good causes that are helping communities. www.neighbourly.com

Fundraising resources

1.    www.ncvo.org.uk and https://www.fundingcentral.org.uk/

2.    www.charityexcellence.co.uk

3.    www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk

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