Community and Voluntary Service - Mid and North Bedfordshire Voluntary Works - A consortium of umbrella voluntary organisations providing a wide range of services across Bedfordshire & Luton


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Funding Advice

Whether your voluntary or community group needs just a few hundred pounds or thousands of pounds, this is the best place to start!

Raising funds can be one of the most daunting tasks that any voluntary or community organisation undertakes. It can take a lot of time and usually involves locating more than one source of funding.

CVS can help you find your way through the funding maze. Here are some of the services we provide:

Specialist Funding and Development Advice

This is provided by our team of Community Group Advisors. Please phone to make an appointment on 01234 354366 or email fundingadvice@yourcvs.org

Fundraising Workshops

Whether you are new to fundraising or an old hand, CVS would recommend that you attend one of our innovative 2 hour workshops that cover the following:

Fit for Funding

This workshop will cover all the basics to get you to the stage where your organisation will be able to apply for funding. We will go through all the documentation you will need, including your governing document, policies, budgeting, and explain the basics of outcomes and demonstrating need. There will also be the opportunity to go through examples of funding applications and guidance on the use of our resources area.

Demonstrating Need and Understanding Outcomes

This workshop will build on the skills you gained from the Fit for Funding workshop and will explain how to identify and explain the need for your work, plus define aims, outcomes, targets and milestones. Through using practical examples and an interactive workshop we aim to make sense of some of the most common problems groups have when making funding applications.

To learn more about these workshops and upcoming dates visit our Fit for Funding Web Page or our Training Pages for other fundraising courses.

Resources Library

Our Resources Library can be booked by any local voluntary or community group free of charge. It is available on weekdays between 9am and 5pm and can be accessed at other times by special arrangement.

Using the Resources Library you can:

  • search for funders using the subscription database TrustFunding.org
  • Research funders in copies of the major funding directories
  • Access a wealth of other funding and development-related
    information in our books, guides and toolkits.

To book an appointment to use the Resources library, please call Poppy Gaisford on 01234 354366 or email poppy@yourcvs.org

Beds-Spread

We like to keep our members up-to-date with what is happening in the voluntary sector and so we produce Beds-Spread, our newsletter, every eight weeks. There is always useful funding information including any new funding streams opening. You can download Beds-Spread from our Beds-Spread Web Page on this website, where you will find that you can also download past copies

Don't put all your eggs in one basket! - Bedfordshire's Sustainable Funding Guide

CVS would recommend that your organisation adopts a Sustainable Funding Approach. This is an approach developed by the National Council for Voluntary Organisations’ (NCVO) Sustainable Funding Project and has been set up to promote an approach that encourages voluntary and community organisations across the UK to explore opportunities to diversify their income streams, so that they are not solely reliant on one income stream, be it from donors, funders, purchasers or consumers. Truly a case of ‘not putting all your eggs in one basket’!

In conjunction with NCVO, CVS have produced the 'Bedfordshire's Sustainable Funding Guide', which can be downloaded below:

The aim of this guide is to give a Bedfordshire perspective to the spectrum of income streams available to voluntary and community groups locally, as well as nationally Please also explore the following pages, that outline in more detail how your organisation benefit by diversifying your funding streams to include from:

  • Donations
  • Grants
  • Contracts
  • Trading

Local Fundraising _ Bedfordshire

This CVS has produced a list of funding from both local sources. Visit our Local Funders (Bedfordshire) page for more details.

For your Voluntary or Community Group to Grow, your group will require funding. CVS - Mid & North Beds can advise you on the best sources of funding in the area!

 

CVS - helping your organisation grow & flourish

 


Community and Voluntary Service, 43 Bromham Road, Bedford, MK40 2AA
Tel: 01234 354366  Fax: 01234 347503  Email: info@yourcvs.org