1. Beacons learning event:
24 September 2012
Designing funding support
Marilyn Keats, MKR Consultancy

2. Work with groups around diversifying income
• Lead with Sustainable Funding approach -
covering all aspects of income generation/
diversification
• Involve Local Authority staff to explain trends
and changes to future funding arrangements
• Support groups through cuts, with advice on
moving away from grant funding
• New SLA – inc. responsibilities around premises
and bringing groups together
• Value of partnerships/collaborative working

3. Work with groups around diversifying income
• Being awarded NCVO Sustainable Funding Beacon
status
• Social Enterprise events – two delivered:
 One regional, with speakers (inc. London Rebuilding
Society and funders) & workshops
 One within Barnet, a combination of case studies*,
networking and a presentation on trading.
• Book of Social Enterprise case studies produced
• CommUNITY Barnet website – page dedicated to
Trading & Social Enterprise, including definitions,
resources and funding opportunities
(* what is the definition of “success” – is it financial?)

4. Challenges & barriers
for infrastructure organisations
• Members used to free, unlimited services
including free training – need to explain
what’s needed to maintain service delivery
• Lack of knowledge of exactly how we can help
– who is seen as the expert?
• Charges for training? Provision of lunch?
• Recognising & addressing differing needs of
large & SMEs, new, struggling and well-
established organisations

5. Challenges & barriers
for infrastructure organisations
• Challenging perception of what CVSs are here
for – public voice, gradual change, promote
positive change?
• Moving with the times – e.g. social media
• Changing relationships with L.A. & other
funders
• New membership structures and packages
• New corporate relationships

6. Challenges & barriers
for groups IOs support
• Cuts vs increasing demands
• Moving groups away from dependence on grant
funding
• Overcoming resistance to charging (inc. venue hire,
static membership fees, free at point of delivery)
• Developing fair and reasonable charging policies whilst
still maintaining accessible services
• Lack of confidence in sector to try new things and to
value their own skills and knowledge – more proactive
support, bringing groups together, targeted training

7. Demonstrating Impact –
Challenges
• Reduced numbers on training courses
• Loss of staff to administer training programme
• Difficulty in relating outcomes/ impact measurement
to work +/or to get others on board – encourage staff
to bring a trustee along to training
• Embedding outcomes focus across entire organisation
• Smaller groups without resources to do necessary work
on their impact/ gathering evidence
• Smaller groups worry about getting subsumed +/or
losing their voice if they work with larger groups

8. Demonstrating Impact - tools
• CES Outcomes Champion
• NCVO Sustainable Funding Beacon
• Making full use of NCVO & other resources
• Ongoing internal and external Outcomes training
• External training in Impact Measurement & Social
Impact.
• Training in partnerships/collaborative working
• Training feedback form asks What are you going
to do differently?
• F/up training questionnaires after 3 – 6 months

9. Demonstrating Impact – what we do
• Constantly reinforce message to diversify –
via 1-1s, in supporting funding applications, on
training courses, etc.
• Up-skill in income diversification/ promote use of
tools and produce fact sheets
• Explain the need for charging and ways to do it
• Stress importance of baseline & producing
evidence of impact
• Encourage groups to factor in costs of monitoring
& evaluation in funding applications

10. Demonstrating Impact –
what Community Barnet achieved
• Partnership with L.A. to publicise and support
groups in applying for Innovation Bank funding –
8 successful, inc. one partnership
• Contracts awarded
• Groups helped towards independence
• Several groups that we have helped work
together have remained viable as a result, e.g. in
fields of advice and information, disability, mental
health and learning difficulties, carers – others
now in trouble.

11. Use of VIP
• Will be a very valuable tool – both for IOs and for
member groups
• Currently doing health checks but these are not
sufficiently outcomes-focused
• Problematic to find time & resources to put
learning into practice – useful NCVO support and
f/u training with Data Manager
• Will be time-consuming and hard to implement –
resistance of groups who are very time-limited

12. Use of VIP
• Used to create new training feedback form –
well-received and will make f/u survey much
easier & more meaningful
• The tool will help IO help groups:
identify their strengths and weaknesses
devise an action plan
follow their progress
check short and long-term impact
take steps to adapt & improve where necessary

13. Managing Change: Top Tips
• Get everyone involved: trustees, managers, staff, volunteers
• Ensure understanding of outcomes and importance of gathering evidence
• Explain change and how every individual has valuable input into process
• Use VIP & other appropriate tools for standardisation of systems, for ease
of capturing information & evidence, for motivation thru seeing progress.
• Be open, transparent, patient and flexible – acknowledge feelings around
change and offer support
• What’s in it for them? Invite feedback so they don’t feel it is being done to
them
• Provision of appropriate personal and professional learning &
development – in cooperation with staff members
• Can staff learn/use new skills?
• Look at how teams work together +/or how they might be re-configured
• Recruit with skill and insight – look for and encourage transferable skills
• Value older, more experienced members of staff and don’t dismiss their
accumulated knowledge

15. Marilyn Keats, MKR Fundraising Consultancy
E: mkeatsrowland@gmail.com