The Sustainable Funding Project (Norfolk) helps organisations to find new ways of raising money and to ensure resources are used effectively.
Through events and information you can:

• Explore ways to make the most of fundraising approaches such as payroll giving and donations
• Assess opportunities for earning money, whether from trading or contracts
• Examine options for collaborative working with other voluntary or statutory organisations or with businesses
• Consider the most effective financial structures to reduce risk and tax liability, and still make the most of assets
• The Sustainable Funding Project (Norfolk) is a partnership between Voluntary Norfolk, Norfolk Rural Community Council, West Norfolk Voluntary and Community Action, the National Council for Voluntary Organisations and is funded by the Big Lottery.

If you would like more information about the support available contact:

West Norfolk Voluntary and Community Action
SFP@westnorfolkvca.org - Tel: 01553 760568

Norfolk Rural Community Council
SFP@norfolkrcc.org.uk - Tel: 01362 698216

Voluntary Norfolk
SFP@voluntarynorfolk.org.uk - Tel: 01603 883830/883844

NCVO has a number of Tools and Publications to aid you with Sustainable Funding.

You can find them online at:
www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/advice-support/funding-finance/sustainable-funding/publications

The Sustainable Funding Project (Norfolk) is a partnership between Voluntary Norfolk, Norfolk Rural Community Council, West Norfolk Voluntary and Community Action and NCVO (National Council for Voluntary Organisations).

Funded by The Big Lottery, the project informs Norfolk voluntary and community groups about the need to consider diversifying their sources of income. It can provide tools to assist with this consideration and arranges training events on relevant topics.

For details of sustainable funding events, please click here.

The Sustainable Funding Guide is available free as a PDF download - click here.

Groups can get a printed copy direct by contacting any of the email addresses or phone numbers above.

Please click here to see the Latest January Project Update, and download our 15 Questions

A common sense approach to financial sustainability

The Sustainable Sun Tool is a quick, easy to use chart which provides a simple way to understand the things your organisation is already doing well - and which activities it could focus on to give it the best chances for success over the next few years.

With clear text and simple steps designed especially for small and medium sized groups, the Sustainable Sun Tool promotes focused, open debate about where your group has got to and where it wants to be.

Best used by the whole board and other key decision makers, the Sustainable Sun Tool is also useful to work through quietly on your own. The instructions are clear enough for it to be effective without any outside help at all. However, if you would prefer someone to help your group get to grips with it – that can be arranged too.

It is just one of the ways the Sustainable Funding Project can help to stave off those rainy days.

Hard copies are available from SFP@voluntarynorfolk.org.uk . Copies can also be downloaded from:

www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/advice-support/funding-finance/sustainable-funding/publications

The Sustainable Funding Project (Norfolk) is promoting tools developed by NCVO (National Council for Voluntary Organisations) and may be able to help with other development and training for your group.

Please click here to download a PDF of the Good Governance Guide for smaller organisations which has been produced by the Governance Code Steering Group.

The Sustainable Funding Project (Norfolk) have produced a check-list of things to consider if you are thinking of buying or leasing a building for your organisation to operate in.

The check-list is available as a PDF, please click here.

The 28 page handout from the Trusts and Foundations course run by the Sustainable Funding Project (Norfolk) in Dereham on 9 November 2011 is available as a PDF.

Full cost recovery is essential for ensuring that funding bids accurately cover all potential costs; contracts are negotiated for the full cost of delivering the service; and pricing for products and services fully reflect the cost to the organisation of producing or providing those goods.

Voluntary organisations like their counterparts in the public and private sectors incur organisational overhead costs in addition to project costs. Full Cost Recovery means accounting for an organisation’s expenditure incorporating all costs incurred by the organisation, both overhead expenditure as well as project specific costs.

Find out more about Full Cost Recovery by visiting www.fullcostrecovery.org.uk or www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/advice-support/funding-finance/financial-management/full-cost-recovery

When looking at the sustainability of your organisation consideration must be given to the structure of your group and what would best enable it to function smoothly. A forthcoming development is the creation of the Charitable Incorporated Organisation.

The latest indicated timescale for implementation is March/April 2012.

Initially it was suggested that groups with an income of less than £5000 could benefit from registration with the Charity Commission by becoming a CIO. However the Charity Commission has recently stated that it will not be able to consider applications from groups with incomes of less than £5000. At this stage and without further information this appears to be a matter of available resources at the Charity Commission.

For more information about CIOs please click here »

Budget 2011 ~ HM Revenue & Customs announcement

Gift aid: Records for small donations

From April 2013 charities and community amateur sports clubs that receive small donations of £10 or less will be able to apply for a Gift Aid style repayment without the need to obtain Gift Aid declarations for those donations. The amount of small donations on which the new repayment can be claimed will be capped at £5000 per year, per charity.

In order to qualify for this new repayment, charities will need to have been recognised by HMRC for Gift Aid purposes for at least three years, have been operating Gift Aid successfully throughout that time and have a good tax compliance record. The Government will be consulting with charity representatives on the details of the new scheme over the summer of 2011. The Sustainable Funding Project (Norfolk) will keep you updated on developments.

For more information, please visit: www.hmrc.gov.uk/charities/gift_aid/reclaim.htm