Maximising social harvest through managing funding burden pdf

Maximising the social harvest through managing funding burden

A PRESENTATION TO THE COMBINED COMMUNITY TRUSTS CONFERENCE

B Y K A TE F R Y K B E R G , TH I N K TA N K C O N S U L T I N G A N D I A I N H I N E S , J R M C K E N Z I E TR U S T

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Outline

What is funding burden?

Grantee experience of funding burden

Funder inquiry into funding burden - J R McKenzie

Practical suggestions for finding the sweet spot

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Cultivating the seeds of change

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Enough

info

Seeking the sweet spot…

ReasonableTime

Funding Burden – Definitions

Funding Burden:Time and costs spent applying for and

reporting on grants

Net Grant:Money received minus funding burden

Net Funding:Total money provided by a funder minus

funding burden for all applicants

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Grantee experiences of funding burden

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• “Untenable hours and stress. You get jaded, disillusioned – it’s

head-bashing stuff”

• “Reporting requirements meant we spent 300k on a database

and 1000+ hours implementing it”

• “We spent about 1 – 2 days per week for three years before we

were finally awarded our multi-year funding”

• “My team spent about 800 hours after the grant was received

meeting the funder’s demands”

• “They invited funding applications of up to $100,000 – but

didn’t tell us that the grant pool was little more than 200k”

Examples of funding burden

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• “Untenable hours and stress. You get jaded, disillusioned – it’s

head-bashing stuff”Funding

Burden

• “Reporting requirements meant we spent 300k on a database

and 1000+ hours implementing it”

• “We spent about 1 – 2 days per week for three years before we

were finally awarded our multi-year funding”20%

• “My team spent about 800 hours after the grant was received

meeting the funder’s demands”53%

• “They invited funding applications of up to $100,000 – but

didn’t tell us that the grant pool was little more than 200k”100%

The result?

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Sometimes our processes reduce the very impact we seek to support

Information

Outlineapplication

Fullapplication

Shortlisting

Visit

Assessment Decision

promotion

Outlineapplication

Fullapplication

Shortlisting

Visit

Assessment Decision

Outlineapplication

Fullapplication

Visit

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number

hours

19

39

Big

grants: 14

Funding efficiency (net funding as % of total) 93%

Total funding given 2,758,000

Cost of ‘songs’ 146,400

Cost of ‘operas’ 49,500

Net funding to community 2,562,100

• It excludes their reporting costs

• It excludes all of our costs

Is 93% a pass mark?

• Overall JRMT has “one of the better

processes”

What have we done?

Improved info for applicants (again!)

Reduced size of Outline Application

Reviewed the Full Application

We now ask for feedback in application

forms

How to find the sweet spot

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Be curious Try filling out our own forms

Ongoing learning and improvement

Gather information Ask for feedback and time taken in our forms

Commission applicant surveys

Ask for applicant input on changes we make

Double check what our decision makers really need

How to find the sweet spot continued

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Prune our processesPrepare the soil – be clear what we want to fund,

and how much is on offer

Weed out questions you don’t actually use

Thin the seedlings with two-step processes and/or processes proportional to what is on offer

Ongoing care and attention – multi-year funding is better for grantees and funders

Propagate processes – align application forms and share reporting with other funders

Thank you

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• Kate Frykberg [email protected]• Iain Hines [email protected]