These templates and samples found across the web provide a practical starting point for your group’s documents.
Trustees Role Description
The Trustee Recruitment Cycle from Reach Volunteering helps boards recruit Trustees. Providing information, tools and examples from real charities, they take you through the whole recruitment process. This excellent resource includes a sample Trustee Role description, which you can download here.
The voluntary sector has become incredibly skilled in raising income through grants and external trusts. Grants come in a variety of forms and are given by a variety of funders. Each funder has its own specific criteria and methods for assessing applications. It is therefore no surprise that this marketplace is highly competitive. Given that, how does an organisation avoid some of the common pitfalls, which means they spend more time applying for funds than receiving grants or awards?
Lesson 1. Always read the guidance.
“If only they read our eligibility criteria, they would see that we don’t fund that. A perennial complaint from funders”, Third Sector magazine.
According to the latest figures from the Big Lottery Fund, 46% of applications to one of its main funding programmes were ineligible. It is easy to forget that trusts, foundations, and other grant-making organisations have their own goals and priorities to meet. If you are seeking external financial support, you must identify a strong match between your organisation or project and the organisation you are approaching for support. This requires an investment of time to undertake the appropriate level of research to ensure that match. Remember also that details such as your level of turnover and the location in which you operate may make your application redundant before you even begin. So read the guidance and do not waste valuable time.
Lesson 2. Avoid jargon.
Once you have identified the right opportunities, you will inevitably be faced with a series of questions to which you need to provide a comprehensive written response to. Here are some top tips:
If help is on offer from the funder, then take it. It is always useful to meet the funder to ask questions, get feedback and familiarised the funding officer with your work.
Lesson 3. Make sure the sums make sense
Another common reason for applications being rejected is applicants asking for unrealistic sums of money. If a funder states that their average level of committed grant is £20,000 then they will not fund a bid for £90,000. Similarly, asking for a lesser amount than you need, as a way of achieving a grant, is not ideal either simply because an organisation that does that will not have enough with which to run that project.
Strike a balance based on the funding recommendation for each award
Funders are also frustrated by simple budgetary errors such as miscalculations, unproven assumptions, or just poor mathematics. Always double or triple-check the calculations and ensure that the budget is sufficient for your needs. Applications are often refused on this basis.
Funding officers may have several hundred applications to check. Do not give them an easy excuse to reject yours.
Fundraising is the process of asking for money or other support to help a charity, voluntary, or community group achieve its aims. It can include donations from the public, grants from trusts, business sponsorships, events, or selling goods and services.
Fundraising must follow legal rules and ethical standards to protect donors and maintain public trust.
Individuals
The general public remains one of the most important sources of income for UK charities. In 2019/20, it amounted to 51% of charity income. (sources: SmallCharitiesData)
Grants from Trusts and Foundations
Many charities rely on grant funding for specific projects or core costs. Applications are considered against pre-defined criteria. Grants can be both short or long-term.
Top Tip: Match your project to the funder’s priorities. Read their guidance carefully before applying. To read out more tips, take a look at our Grants and Trusts factsheet.
Corporate Support
Businesses often support charities through partnerships, sponsorships, or staff fundraising.
Chartered Institute of Fundraising provides a good introduction to Corporate Fundraising.
Top Tip: Approach local companies or those with a link to your group.
Community Fundraising & Events
Grassroots fundraising brings people together and builds local support.
Top Tip: Always follow fundraising and licensing rules. You can find out more about in the Code of Fundraising Practice on the Fundraising Regulator’s website.
Statutory Funding
This funding can either be either by:
Top Tip: You’ll need strong governance, financial systems, and evidence of outcomes to succeed with public sector funding.
Earned Income
Earned income is often classed as Fundraising, but technically speaking it is slightly different and more generally falls under the heading of Social Enterprise. Regardless of terminology though, earning income from room hire or delivering training is an important and valuable tool in the toolkit of most Voluntary Sector organisations
For registered Charities there are rules about trading. Guidance can be found here.
Final Thoughts: Building a Sustainable Mix
To build long-term sustainability:
NCVO’s Guidance on Collaborative working
More charities are turning to collaboration with other charities to pool resources, gain efficiencies and better serve their mission. Charities can merge their back-office functions to enjoy lower overhead costs, enter a joint venture to expand their offerings or service area, or even merge entirely into one completely new entity. But navigating which option is right for your charity can be challenging. The first step is to understand the differences between the different types of collaboration.
Mergers.
Mergers are the most formal process in this list. A merger can involve completely combining 2 charitable entities. Or one larger charity adding a smaller organisation to deliver a new programme or service. The merger process ranges from short and simple to lengthy and complicated. But it is always important to do your due diligence during a merger. Many charities use a consultant during the process to help perform due diligence and implement best practises. When your organisation is ready to officially merge after the due diligence process, it is important to seek the requisite legal advice from a body that is skilled and versed in non-profit law.
Further help:
Joint service delivery
A joint venture is historically used when 2 charities want to collaborate on an isolated programme or project.
Here is an example.
A youth charity and a horse rescue charity coming together to provide horse riding classes for isolated or vulnerable children over the summer.
These types of ventures are helpful as they increase capacity and resource, extend the geographic reach of a service or programme, and add expertise and skills to both organisations. Joint ventures are usually time limited.
Partnerships.
The word partnership can be used in many ways and can mean different things to different people. Generally, though, a partnership is a formalised agreement between two or more charities which has a specific goal or a set of ambitions. Partnerships can allow your charity to pool resources with another organisation to help you reach your goals. A good partnership helps increase efficiency, add resource and allows for joint funding activities. Many grant funders liked the concept of partnership as it allows them to fund more services at a lower cost.
Partnerships can range from joint funding bids where one organisation is the Lead Agency and sub-contracts to the other organisation through to, in some cases, a separate constituted Consortium is created.
Fiscal sponsorship.
Fiscal sponsorship allows a fledgling charitable programme to be incubated by an established charity. Here is an example:
In the faith sector new church networks are often incubated by larger faith organisations until such time as their development and their funding is viewed as sustainable and robust.
This type of arrangement is useful for new charity programme as it gives support when it is most needed. For the incubating charity, it raises profile, adds to the resilience of the sector and forms a platform of allies for the future.
Notes
No matter what type of collaboration you pursue, it is vital to undertake research on the organisation you wish to connect with. While the impact to the successful partnership, joint venture, fiscal sponsorship or merger can be great, the implications of one of these methods failing are also great. Trustees would need to agree the approach and in general terms, always look for a charity which has similar cultures, aims and ambitions. Always schedule an interim consultation, which could at its very basic level be a simple phone call, CEO to CEO. There is no harm in talking to others before committing to a formal approach.
Charity governance is an imperative. Failures of charity governance could lead to a loss of public trust, confidence and could ultimately lead to the forced closure of an organisation.
But what are the top tips for good governance? Let’s read what Geoffrey Hand has to say on the subject. Geoffrey is a charity governance consultant, offering support and training.
Your charity’s governing document matters.
Your governing document is both your charity’s Bible and its Highway Code. If your charity is doing something different, your charity trustees can be way off track before realising they have set a foot wrong. Check it out regularly, at least once a year, and stay legal
Adopt the Charity Trustee Governance code.
Trustees or Directors have specific responsibilities which they must undertake according to the organisation’s constitution and the relevant legislation. Adopting the Charity Governance Code helps you to practice Good Governance.
Ensure Charity Trustee Diversity
Diversity is not just about race, ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation, he states. Every charity trust board must have its Mr and Ms Grumpy to challenge the common ground and stimulate real debate.
Read more: Getting on Board produce a practical guide: Diversify your Charity’s Board
Insist on fixed trustees’ terms of office.
It’s your charity that matters, not a charity trustee’s feelings. A three-year term as a charity trustee, re-electable twice (nine years in all) is plenty. Less for the charity chair. Keep up the charity’s tempo with three years only, no repeats and no exceptions.
Adopt trustee appraisals.
Appraisals are an opportunity for your charity trustees, including your chair, to receive peer-to-peer feedback, to reflect on your successes and failures, to identify your training needs, and to detect any potential troubles ahead. Include your charity staff.
Read more: NCVO’s guide to conducting individual trustee performance reviews.
A dynamic charity strategy
Charities go forwards or backwards, they never stand still. Avoid charity stagnation by having a rolling three-year charity strategy, a yearly charity action plan and a month by month charity strategy step-review.
User friendly charity financial information
Insists that your Charity’s finances are presented in a format that you and your fellow trustees understand, a budget that reflects your charity’s strategy and reports that map your Charity’s progress. Test your treasurer’s mettle (and your own understanding) by asking how charities accounts differ from commercial accounts.
Beware the charity thief.
Believe me, even today there are still charities banking online with no dual approval and two signature charities with pre-signed blank cheques. Even the most respected charity trustees and indeed charity staff, are not immune to personal financial misfortune. And a few short steps to charity dishonesty. Charity fraud happens.
Read more: The Charity Commission’s Internal Finance Controls Checklist makes a great starting point to see how you are doing. They have also produced guidance on protecting your charity from fraud.
Accurate charity records
Transparency and accountability are today’s charity watchwords. Ensure your charity trustees meetings are accurately minuted. Create your own charity compliance checklist and charity governance calendar – two hallmarks of a well-run charity.
5 yearly charity governance reviews
Many changes occur in a charity over five years, some good and some not so good. Policies, practices and even governing documents become out of date; Roles and relationships of staff and trustees evolve differently. An external charity governance review brings objectivity, highlights areas of concern and identify strengths and opportunities to shape the charity for the future.
Further Guidance:
Your trustee board is responsible for the governance of your charity and must run it in a way that complies with your charity’s governing document and the law. This guidance from the Charity Commission gives guidance on this duty.
The Charity Governance Code is a practical tool to help charities and their trustees develop high standards of governance.
The Code is not a legal or regulatory requirement. It draws upon, but is fundamentally different to, the Charity Commission’s guidance. Instead, the Code sets the principles and recommended practice for good governance and is deliberately aspirational: some elements of the Code will be a stretch for many charities to achieve.
You migth also want to take a look at our 5-minute video on Good Governance.
Practical steps to take to effectively achieve and maintain good governance in your charity
The Fundraising Regulator is the independent regulator of charitable fundraising in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
They do this by:
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Call 01604 637522 or email
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