Securing and maintaining funding

The most effective services will use their data not just to report to current funders, but also to attract funding from different sources, and to influence funders about where there are gaps in provision, new needs emerging within their clients, and to inform local strategies. Most funders we spoke to reported that their strategic direction and decisions about what they should fund came from information about local need – therefore as services you need to be making them aware of the needs you are identifying.

 

Use these top tips to effectively influence funding decisions:

 

Funders’ decisions are also influenced by national and local priorities, therefore you should be clear how your service and the needs you are identifying contribute towards these to have the most success. Keep up to speed on national developments by reading Homeless Link’s bulletins, such as Memberlink and Policy Round-Up.

 

Within local areas there can be different structures and processes for how services are commissioned. Invest some time to understand these so that you are able to target the most appropriate funders effectively.

 

Funders vary in the extent to which they specify the outcomes they want services to achieve. Some will be explicit not only about the outcomes but also about the means by which they expect them to be achieved; others will have broad categories of services they fund and developing the outcomes and indicators is a mutual process. The more dialogue you are able to have with your funders the more likely you are to have outcomes and indicators that you can meet, and that are the most effective ones for achieving what you are aiming for.

 

While funders usually have formal processes in terms of applying for funds or consultations on need, you should view every interaction with your funder as an opportunity to influence them. This includes phone calls, homelessness forums, events you are both attending, and review meetings.

 

Different funders respond to different data sources, so use both qualitative and quantitative data to make your case, backed up by case studies that support that data.

 

Often commissioning processes involve colleagues of the funder, or clients. Therefore your data needs to be accessible to all during any funding applications or campaigning work. Avoid jargon; make your message simple and clear; keep your information short. 

 

Companies will fund areas that ‘balance’ their impact on society, e.g. employment projects being funded by companies specialising in consulting or outsourcing (causing redundancies).

 

Once you have funding, you need to be able to show you are meeting the required outcomes and having the greatest impact on your clients’ lives. Raw data or large spreadsheets can put funders off, so make information as simple and easy to understand as possible and provide analyses of the data; data should be used to support a narrative description.