1. Wales Voluntary Sector Funding Conference 2007
Sustainable Funding –
finding the right mix
Sara Carroll & Nicola Llewelyn
WCVA – Sustainable Funding Cymru
Lorna Unwin
Pembrokeshire Association Voluntary Services
© 2007/2008 WCVA, County Voluntary Councils and Volunteer Centres in Wales

2. Why am I here?
• Sustainability – why now?
• What is sustainable funding?
• What is the income spectrum
• Steps to sustainability
and….to get you thinking!
© 2007/2008 WCVA, County Voluntary Councils and Volunteer Centres in Wales

3. Sustainability – Why now?
‘We don’t need to worry about our
future, we’ve always been able to
attract grant funding and are
confident that we always will’.
© 2007/2008 WCVA, County Voluntary Councils and Volunteer Centres in Wales

4. What is sustainable funding?
• An approach to fundraising
• Process of achieving increased financial sustainability
• Moving away from grant dependency
• Income diversification
• Securing more stable and secure income streams
• Long-term planning for sustainability
© 2007/2008 WCVA, County Voluntary Councils and Volunteer Centres in Wales

5. Income spectrum
Donor Funder Purchaser
Consumer
Gift Grant Structured Open Market
Economy Funding Market
ASKING EARNING
Source: NCVO ©
© 2007/2008 WCVA, County Voluntary Councils and Volunteer Centres in Wales

6. Steps to sustainability
• Income diversification – exploring and
adopting a sustainable and diverse mix of
income sources.
• Organisational skills – ensuring an
organisation is fit for purpose.
• Effective planning – focusing attention on
where you want to be and how you will get there.
© 2007/2008 WCVA, County Voluntary Councils and Volunteer Centres in Wales

7. Top tips for sustainability
• Diversify income – avoid relying on any single
funding source to ensure work continues if and
when one income stream dries up.
• Develop organisational skills – this will help you to
access and manage new income sources and build
capacity more widely
• Plan effectively – knowing where you want to be in
three, five or ten years time will help you understand
the type and amount of funding needed.
© 2007/2008 WCVA, County Voluntary Councils and Volunteer Centres in Wales

8. Top tips for sustainability
Fund appropriately
• The kind of funding or finance your organisation
needs depends on:
– what it does
– who it does it for
– how it plans to develop in the future
• Use the right income source(s) to drive
development at the right time.
© 2007/2008 WCVA, County Voluntary Councils and Volunteer Centres in Wales

9. Further help and support
• Sustainable Funding Cymru
• www.sustainablefundingcymru.org.uk
• County voluntary councils
• WCVA Helpdesk:
– 0800 2888 329 or help@wcva.org.uk
• Further training sessions:
– Introduction to sustainable funding, Business & Strategic
Planning, Grants – fit for funding, Preparing a sustainable
fundraising strategy, Earning, Loan finance and asset based
development, Giving and Public Fundraising
© 2007/2008 WCVA, County Voluntary Councils and Volunteer Centres in Wales