Questions & Answers

‘What are the ways of raising funds for my local organisation?’
The most popular method for many community groups has been to apply for grants particularly from councils, to fund small to medium community initiatives. However in most Local Councils, there has been a general move away from the grant approach to a commissioning approach to funding local Voluntary and Community Sector organisations.

Commissioning can be defined as:
‘…the process of specifying, securing and monitoring services to meet individuals’ needs at a strategic level. This applies to all services, whether they are provided by the local authority or by the private or voluntary sectors.’ (Audit Commission 2004)

The needs of the user (be these individuals, families or other groups) is first identified and defined. The council will next come up with the types of services it believes can address those needs. The next step is to develop a detailed “service specification” for the service/s that have been identified to address the highlighted needs. The process of selecting a delivery organisation then begins.
The selection process may involve competitive tendering (that is where a number of organisations competitively bid to win a contract), but a number of other options may be employed to identify the most appropriate provider.

There are opportunities as well as challenges of the commissioning approach particularly for small and medium voluntary sector organisations that might lack capacity and tendering skills. There are still grants available from a range of sources like Trusts, local councils, private organisations, however the commissioning approach is here to stay and it is a good idea for community groups to some to grips with the commissioning process.

Councils for Voluntary Services (CVS) are able to provide training and support , look for your local CVS by going to http://webdb.navca.org.uk/home.aspx