Key Four: Create Sustainability
To be around for the long haul, it’s vital to focus on sustainability rather than short-term fundraising needs.
This means:
- Finding ways to sustain and nurture the vision (See Key 1)
- Being strategic (Key 3)
- Nurturing your team (Key 5) and building in safeguards so you/they don’t burn out (Key 6)
- Exploring ideas to create reliable income streams that help to outwork your vision
Learn more about the 10 Keys for impact
Funding
There’s not usually one single answer to sustainability, you need to
have a mix of things. One thing that helps us is providing conference
facilities, offices to rent and hiring out rooms.
We mix this with
grants, statutory funding and self-generated funds so we’re not too
dependent on one area. 
Stuart Ashmore, First Base
We seek to grow the base of support from individual donors (including
church members), always thanking them for donations promptly. Standing
Orders particularly help us plan ahead.
Piers Young, Coventry Jesus Centre
Our advice would be:
• Consider using an outside grant finder/bid-writer. The money you spend
on them will be small compared to what they can bring in.
• Know your financial limits, risk assess them and remain true to that despite the temptation to over-extend yourself
• Be prepared to engage with the statutory agencies and to negotiate hard but with grace
• Look for opportunities to help the local authority meet their objectives –they may help fund your work
• It’s vital to provide reports to funders on time and with all the evidence they have requested.
• Have a 3-5 year financial strategy and constantly review it
Mark Russell, Greenbank and Audrey Carmichael, Crossover
Don’t forget that small and simple is fine. Watch that you don’t grow at a faster pace than you can sustain.
Richard Phillip, ACET Ireland
We began a charity shop ministry to help with sustainability. It has the
same ethos as the rest of our work and also gives opportunities for
work experience to those going through our programmes.
Alistair Park, New Hope/Jigsaw
We held a ‘Dreamers Breakfast’ to come up with ideas about how to make
our work sustainable. Around 40 people from the church came aged 13
upwards who aren’t involved in the project. This gave them the creative
freedom to come up with 400 wild and wacky ideas without worrying about
how to put them into practice! We developed one really strong idea (to
set up a day care provision for adults with learning disabilities) which
will eventually part fund two of our posts and is in-line with our true
purpose.
Audrey Carmichael, Crossover
Within our farm project we have 500 hens which provide therapeutic work
activities for our clients (collecting the hens’ eggs, checking,
packing, distributing them to agents and selling them at Farmer’s
Markets). Selling the eggs also generates around £16,000 a year which
offsets some of the farms running costs.
Hazel Guest, Good News Family Care
‘Turning the Key’ – Additional Tips:
- Develop a PR, Marketing & Fundraising Plan rather than doing
things adhoc. If you don’t have the skills, seek out someone who has.
- Capture figures and stories of positive change. This is invaluable for
funders reports and encouraging more individual supporters.
- Think of a variety of ways to get money e.g.:
-
Grants
-
Donor Database
-
Innovative income ideas (eggs!)
-
Hiring out facilities
-
Social enterprise
-
Statutory funding
-
Events (Supporter Dinner Dances, Sponsored hike)
- Don’t forget, as part of your PR, to develop good relationships with
Managers of local supermarkets, banks, small businesses, newspapers.
They will help promote your work, take you on as their ‘Charity of the
Year’, provide volunteers and gifts in kind.
Helpful organisations
www.socialenterprise.org.uk/pages/who-we-are.html provides a ‘business model’ for Christian initiatives
www.businesslink.gov.uk
The Social Entrepreneur by Andrew Mawson