the sustainable funding project
‘funding in the round’
Welcome!
Sustaining yourselves to
sustain others!
© The Sustainable Funding Project
www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/sfp
An Introduction to Sustainable
Funding
The Sustainable Funding Project, NCVO
© The Sustainable Funding Project
www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/sfp
The ‘3 Ss’ of sustainable funding
 Stable – a diverse mix of funding sources
 Suitable – appropriate for the organisation
 Sufficient – costs are understood and covered
 Planning underpins and strengthens
an organisation’s sustainability
© The Sustainable Funding Project
www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/sfp
Why sustainable funding? Context
 Decreasing local authority funding: advocacy
role = difficult to fund
 Funds increasingly directed to frontline
 One-to-one support expensive to deliver
 Lack of clarity about who & when to support
 The limitations of short-term project funding
© The Sustainable Funding Project
www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/sfp
Why sustainable funding? Opportunity
 Opportunity to develop user-focused services
 Hunting for hidden assets
 Increased contract delivery opportunities
 Loans available for asset development
© The Sustainable Funding Project
www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/sfp
Funding streams and relationships
Donor
Funder
Purchaser
Consumer
Gift
Economy
Grant
Funding
Structured
Market
Open Market
ASKING
© The Sustainable Funding Project
www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/sfp
EARNING
Money is just one piece of the puzzle…
© The Sustainable Funding Project
www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/sfp
An Introduction to Trading
The Sustainable Funding Project, NCVO
© The Sustainable Funding Project
www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/sfp
The More than Profit Sector!
 Total income for 2004/05 was £27.7 billion*
 Earned income (trading and contracting) was
£13.3 billion
 Increasing as a proportion:
33% in 1994/95
42% in 2001/02
48% in 2004/05
* Source: UK Voluntary Sector Almanac 2007
© The Sustainable Funding Project
www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/sfp
Why trade?
 Traded income is unrestricted
 Independence = self-esteem
 Trading builds new skills
 Charging promotes appreciation of quality
 Trading can reconnect us with our users
© The Sustainable Funding Project
www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/sfp
Merging mission & money
On mission
Majority activity
Prime target
Makes
money
Requires
subsidy
Stay out!!
Proceed with caution!
Off mission
© The Sustainable Funding Project
www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/sfp
How?
 Product - producing goods and services where they
didn’t exist before (childcare, recycling);
 Process - ways of working which prioritise a social
element (worker co-operatives, social firms, fair trade)
 Profit - trading in order to cross-subsidise social or
environmental goods or services
© The Sustainable Funding Project
www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/sfp
What? - product options
existing market
existing
product
© The Sustainable Funding Project
www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/sfp
new
product
new market
How to sell - approaches to trading
Four Ways to Earn – there’s more to trading than profit!




Mission Related Trading
Contracting
Social Firms
Unrelated Trading
© The Sustainable Funding Project
www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/sfp
Products and Competencies*
McDonalds
food
consistency
FedEx
parcels
logistics
Revlon
cosmetics
hope
* Source: Jerr Boschee
© The Sustainable Funding Project
www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/sfp
Think about…
 Product and Market
 Mission and Money
 Hunting for Hidden Assets
? Why do we want to trade
? What have we got
? Who might buy it
© The Sustainable Funding Project
www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/sfp
Needs analysis:
Sustainable Sun Tool
The Sustainable Funding Project, NCVO
© The Sustainable Funding Project
www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/sfp
Where are you now?
© The Sustainable Funding Project
www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/sfp
the sustainable funding project
‘funding in the round’
www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/sfp
020 7520 2519
© The Sustainable Funding Project
www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/sfp