Funding Advice Bureau SYFAB and TfR's guide to Communicating with Funders for Faith Projects Lots of voluntary, community and faith organisations treat all funders as if they are the same – they put an application in, hope to get some money, get annoyed at the monitoring forms, then once the funding ends, never contact the funder again. But actually, funders are organisations set up to achieve particular goals themselves. And, like all organisations, funders are made up of individuals, who respond well to good communication. You can set your organisation apart from the crowd by communicating effectively with funders. This quick guide will show you how. Why communicate with funders? Communicating effectively with funders helps demonstrate that you are a professional organisation that would spend a grant wisely and achieve positive outcomes. By taking the time to research each funder carefully in order to understand as much as you can about them, you can make sure you tailor your communication with them in order to meet their aims and improve your chances of success in securing a grant now or in the future. Building a good relationship with a funding body can also enable you to find out about opportunities you wouldn’t otherwise have known about. It may be especially useful for you, as a faith organisation, to develop good communication with funders, particularly secular funders, where the ability to communicate about your organisation and your work can help to overcome doubts or misconceptions about your ability to successfully deliver activities that benefit the wider community. When do you need to communicate with funders? 1. Before you apply: • Make sure you do your research thoroughly. You can seriously improve your chances of success by reading as much information about a funder as you can and describing your project or activity in terms of what the funder says it is interested in supporting. How much you concentrate on the role of faith in your work will depend on the funder’s aims and criteria. If the funder does prioritise funding religious work and faith organisations, you can tailor your application by emphasising the role that faith plays in your work. If the funder doesn’t have a particular faith priority (and as long as they don’t specifically exclude funding faith organisations) you can try to find lists of previous grants given by the funder to see whether faith organisations have received funding from them in the past. • If in doubt, make an enquiry. Some funders don’t publish telephone numbers and don’t welcome general enquiries. You can still make a polite enquiry if you have a specific question. Remember that, even though this isn’t an official part of the assessment of your application, all of your communication with a funder is important as it gives an impression of your organisation – is it well run and professional (and would it spend a grant wisely)? • Don’t assume that whoever you correspond with has nothing to do with the assessment process. Often, the correspondent has a crucial role in determining which applications go to which assessment meeting; they might do a first sift to reject applications that don’t meet the criteria, and they might write summaries of the projects for the assessors. So be polite and professional in all your communications with funding bodies. 2. Once you have a decision: If the funder has decided to offer you a grant, you have the opportunity to build a good relationship with the funder, demonstrate your effectiveness and hopefully encourage the funder to support your organisation again. Even if the funder rejects your application, it’s still worth maintaining contact for possible future applications. • If you have been successful: You should contact the funder to say ‘thank you’ for offering the grant. You need to make sure you know what the reporting/ monitoring requirements are, and follow them. It is often worthwhile adding the funder to your mailing list and sending them regular updates on your organisation and its work. • If you have been unsuccessful: Even if you get turned down, it is a good idea to try to maintain contact with the funder. First of all, you need to deal with any issues relating to this application. Thank the funder for taking the time to consider your application, and if possible, you should try to get some feedback. If you were rejected because you don’t meet the funder’s criteria (and it looks like you never will) then you could consider not staying in touch with them. But if you think you may want to apply to them in the future, then it’s worth adding them to your mailing list and maintaining contact. 3. After your funding comes to an end: Large national charities build relationships with trusts and other funders and receive regular support, either ongoing donations, or grants for new projects and activities - you can do that too. First, make sure you’ve done everything you need to in reporting on your grant, thank the funder again for their support, then ask if you can keep them updated on ongoing work – try to find out the contact details of the best person to send information to. Stay in touch by sending them regular (once every 3-6 months) updates on your activities, invite the funder to any appropriate events, and send them a copy of your annual report if you produce one. If you aren’t already, you should write a regular update on your work that goes out to people interested in your organisation. It’s an easy way of maintaining contact with the people who might be very useful to you in the future – as your prospective donors, survey respondents, references, and champions. South Yorkshire Funding Advice Bureau The Workstation 15 Paternoster Row Sheffield S1 2BX Tel: 0114 249 4343 Email: enquiries@syfab.org.uk Website: www.syfab.org.uk Together for Regeneration Sheffield Diocesan Church House 95-99 Effingham Street Rotherham S65 1BL Tel: 01709 309 119 Email: admin@tfr.org.uk Website: www.tfr.org.uk We can provide this information in other formats on request. Please get in touch to discuss your needs. Our information is produced for local community and voluntary groups. No permission is needed for limited reproduction if SYFAB is acknowledged. Large scale reproduction or inclusion in publications for sale must have written permission from SYFAB and TfR. SYFAB and TfR welcome your comments and criticism. You can talk to any member of staff, or contact us by post, phone, fax or email. Registered Charity No: 1061118 (SYFAB); 245861 (TfR) Reg. Company No: 3030641 (SYFAB); 196087 (TfR)